


The Black Rose (a YukiRena fic)

by haloedmoon



Category: AKB48, AKB48 & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-04-23 23:55:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4897165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haloedmoon/pseuds/haloedmoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kashiwagi Yuki; a vampire with a dark history.<br/>Matsui Rena; a hunter with a shadowed past.<br/>One is bent on killing the other, while the other one just wants redemption.<br/>1000 years of war between the vampires and the humans. An intertwined fate of these two girls might end the eternal feud.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This is a collaboration with  **Ruka Kikuchi**  from JPH!P~

Enjoy!

-haloedmoon :3

* * *

For thousands of years, vampires have lived in the darkness, travelling in the shadows to feast on human blood. A silent war has been going on since the beginning of time, between the humans and the vampires. The reason for their hatred towards each other, no one knows. The fight between them shall go on for eternity. Unless, of course, something were to happen that would stop it. Even if it were the most forbidden thing for any human or vampire to do… fall in love with each other.

* * *

"Rena." A short young woman with her hair in a ponytail called out to a certain hunter with long black hair, dark brown eyes, and porcelain white skin. She had been practicing her shooting until she heard her voice. The girl put down her gun and walked over to the shorter woman.

"Yes, Takamina?"

"We just got new info on a certain vampire in this area," the woman called Takamina showed Rena a picture of the vampire. She had long raven black hair and pitch black eyes, contrasting with her pale, snow white skin and rose colored lips. "Her name is Black. She's been appearing quite frequently around here."

"I know what to do," Rena saluted to her group leader.

She retrieved her gun and refilled it, putting a few extra bullets in her pocket, just in case this vampire happens to pick a fight.

"A hunter's job is to exterminate all vampires…" she recited in her head. "I'll eliminate them, every last one."

"Rena-chan!" She felt a pair of arms hug her waist and a familiar voice call her name. She turned and saw none other than Jurina hugging her with her catlike grin.

"Jurina, let me go. I have a mission."

"Eh~? Don't go yet, I wanna stay with Rena some more~!"

"No," Rena separated from her. "Listen, I know you want me to stay, but this one is extremely important."

"Oh, come on~ Do you really have to go right now? It's not even past 8 yet, the sun hasn't even gone down. You can wait until then, can't you?"

Rena pondered on the younger girl's thought and looked out the window. Indeed, it wasn't even dark out yet. She knew vampires only came out at night and rarely ever in the daytime, and while they were stronger in the dark, especially during a full moon, she figured Black would be easier to find once the sun went down.

"Alright, I guess I can stay for a while. But only until sundown."

"Yay~ Thank you, nee-chan!" Jurina hugged the girl again.

Ever since Jurina became a hunter, Rena always had to look after her spoiled little sister. Jurina was always seen clinging to Rena, always by her side. Even when Jurina was a baby, Rena had taken care of her from the start.

Jurina was born when Rena was six years old. Her parents showed the young Rena everything she needed to know on raising baby Jurina. She had watched Jurina grow and mature, from her first steps, to speaking her first word (which was, in fact, Rena's name), every second, every day, she was with her sister. Playing games with her, walking her to school, cheering her up when she was sad, and letting her sleep with her when she was scared.

When Jurina was 15, their parents were killed by a vampire. The two siblings were left alone to care for each other, trying to survive in the world on their own. Without Rena, Jurina would have nothing. She was the only family she had left. So, when she was finally old enough, she became a hunter like her sister, so she could protect Rena from those awful creatures, and to make sure no child would end up in the same fate they were, or worse.

Now Jurina is 18, and she's matured into a beautifully blossoming young lady. She would still act a bit spoiled and maybe a little childish sometimes towards the elder girl, but Rena still loved her sister and was there to take care of her.

"Nee, Rena-chan~ Let's have curry for dinner tonight~"

"Jurina, you know if I'm out late, it'll be past your bedtime when dinner's ready."

"I'll still eat it~ A girl's gotta eat."

"A girl's gotta sleep, too."

"Mou~ don't be mean~" Jurina pouted.

"Rena," Another voice called out as the two were walking down the hall. Rena saw a short figure along with a tall, boyish looking figure. She immediately recognized them and smiled.

"Yuko-san! Sae-san!"

"Yo, Yuuchan, Sae-chan!" Jurina immediately hugged the two girls.

"I see you're doing well as usually, J," Yuko pet the girl's head. "What's goin' on, Rena? Something come up?"

"I got a new mission from Takamina. I'm going after a vampire named Black tonight."

Sae's face suddenly turned serious. "Do you mean the Black? The one with long hair and black eyes?"

"You know her?" Rena's eyes widened.

"Know her? I fought her. That's why I got this!" Sae pointed to her own collarbone, where a scar had marked her skin.

"That was from her?!" Yuko said in surprise.

"She's incredibly fast. Didn't even see it coming."

"She sounds strong," Jurina looked at her sister with worry. "You gonna be able to beat her on your own, Rena-chan?"

"Don't worry." Rena patted Jurina's head. "I'll be fine."

"Just… come back unharmed, okay? I don't wanna lose you."

Rena nodded.

"Yeah, you go get 'em and show that vamp who's boss! Kick her lil' fanged ass!"

"Yuko!" Sae slapped her shoulder slightly.

"What? I have no doubt Rena will win. My money's on the legendary hunter, Gekikara!"

"I told you, I don't go by that anymore," Rena giggled.

"You still can!"

"Alright, Yuko, that's enough," a certain voice rose as a tall woman walked up to Yuko. "You two, get back to training. I need to chat with Rena."

"Jeez, Sayaka, you're such a buzzkill," Yuko sighed before receiving a slight grin from the tall woman. She and Sae went off as Sayaka turned to the two siblings.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, we're okay, Sayaka-san."

"Just let me know if Yuko gets on your case. She kinda tends to speak her mind, a little too much."

The two giggled at the comment.

"We were talking about Black. I'm facing her tonight."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"I've heard about her. Apparently she's very high rank. Strong, fast, too. You be careful, okay?"

Rena nodded.

"Good. Ah, and Jurina-chan, Takamina and I wanted to do some special training with you. She wants you to meet up in Room 8. You up for it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You go on and get warmed up," the tall girl patted Jurina's back.

"Hai!" Jurina saluted and went off.

Sayaka then turned to Rena.

"Mayu told me about this vampire. She's got every piece of info on her."

"As expected. What'd she find?"

"Black only comes out at night. And she has incredibly speed, faster than any vampire we've faced before. She's also known to seduce her targets and hypnotize them before she drinks their blood. When they wake up, they have no memory of what happened."

"But not me," Rena grinned. "She won't break this," she pointed to her head.

"I know she won't. Just be careful out there. We will wait for your return."

"Yes, ma'am," Rena saluted to Sayaka. Sayaka saluted back and walked back down the hall.

Sayaka was the leader of the group. She was definitely one of the strongest hunter's the team had, along with Takamina (who was in charge of combat training) and of course Yuko. She, Yuko, and Sae had been together since they first became hunters, and knew everything about each other.

Also on the hunter team was Mayu. While she wasn't as strong physically, she had perfect accuracy with a gun and an IQ of a whopping 205. She could obtain any and every piece of information on anything and everything in the world; a human encyclopedia. If there's a way Rena can defeat Black no problem, Mayu is sure to know it.

She walks over to intel and sees Mayu in front of several computers. She seems tense, pounding away at the keyboard. When she finally stopped and sensed Rena's presence, she stood up and stretched her arms.

"Hey, Rena. What brings you in?"

"I need information on Black. Give me all that you know."

"Gotcha."

Mayu then walked to another corner of the room, where dozens of metal cabinets were at. After some searching, she pulled out a folder containing Black's files.

"Here you are." She pulled out a couple of pages from the folder and handed them to Rena.

"Thanks."

"Let me know if you need anything else."

"Of course."

Rena left and looked through the files as she walked down the hall.

"Black. Age: 118. Rank: Royal."

Rena's eyes widened when she saw that word. "A Royal..?!" she whispered.

She had never faced a Royal before. She had heard that they were extremely powerful and dangerous, that it was almost impossible to kill one.

Rena is starting to worry. She's afraid that she couldn't make it after all.

She then looked back down and continued reading.

"Defeated 100 Yakuza members and survived without even a scratch."

Rena covered her mouth, trying not to scream.

"100?!"

Rena gulped as she continued reading.

"Possesses inhuman speed; nearly impossible to catch or trap. Said to have strong hypnotic powers. Do NOT look her in the eyes."

Rena looked away from the files. Now she was feeling really nervous about this mission. She had never thought she was going to go up against a vampire as fierce and powerful as Black, let alone, a Royal. She looked at her gun, reading an engraving etched in the side.

"Even the darkest hearts can be saved by the Light."

She developed a serious look on her face as she held the gun close and thought back to that night, the moment she decided she wanted to become a hunter. It was the night she lost her lover. Someone she had loved her whole life, and she had lost him to the very vampires that she hated more than anything.

"I won't forgive the vampires… A hunter's job is to exterminate all vampires… I'll eliminate them, every last one…"

"Rena?"

Rena then looked up and saw Sayaka and Takamina looking at her.

"The sun's gone down already. You ready to go?"

She stood up. "Yeah… I'm ready."

* * *

Once it was dark, Rena started the search for Black. She went to the scene by motorbike. "Scene" isn't the right way to put it, for it's just a place where the yakuza usually roam around at night, smoking and gambling and doing heaven knows what. She began searching the city, looking for any strange activity occurring.

Rena parked her bike somewhere further from the place and covered it, in case someone noticed it and alert the others. She wandered around, always staying alert. As an experienced hunter, she knew better than to let her guard down. She went in the direction of the docks, it was empty except for a couple of boats floating on the water.

Suddenly, she heard something. Her head sharply turned in the direction of the sound, trying to find who, or what, was causing it.

"Who's there?" she called out.

"Hot blood in a frail body."

Taking her gun out of its holster, she crept towards the source of the sound. She pointed her gun, searching for what could've been making the sound, when she saw a pair of glowing red orbs shining in the darkness.

"Vampire..!"

"For you, there is no tomorrow."

She cocked her gun.

"Vampire… I'll kill you!"

Just then, a gust of wind blew by and the orbs were gone. She felt a strong presence behind her that sent chills down her spine. She slowly turned around, coming face to face with the very vampire herself, Black.

"You..!"

Black continued. "You have come to kill me?"

She disappeared again and Rena could hear her voice in her ears.

"You dare challenge a Royal?"

Just then, that same chill came as Black whispered coldly in her ear.

"Foolish human."

Rena aimed her gun and shot a bullet, but Black was gone again. Rena looked around blindly in the darkness.

"Where are you..?! Come out, Black!"

"I'm over here."

Black appeared to her left. Rena shot another round, but Black was gone.

"Behind you."

Rena turned around and shot another bullet, but still, the vampire was nowhere to be seen.

Round after round, Rena shot and missed. Soon, her gun was emptied.

"Damn it!" Rena put her gun back and pulled out her dagger. It was made of the hardest steel mixed with silver, which was deadly to the touch of a vampire. On the blade was carved the initials "M.R." It was a gift from her father.

She held out the blade, slashing it whenever she saw a chance to strike. Each time she saw those red eyes, she'd attack, but miss as she'd disappeared the very second after.

This game of cat and mouse continued for an hour. Rena was starting to grow weak and was running out of breath. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears because she had used up so much of her stamina from fighting. She fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

She suddenly froze, for she felt a cold hand cupping her neck from behind. Her body couldn't move and she wanted to scream, but couldn't find the strength.

"This is it then? I'm going to die?" Rena closed her eyes.

She then felt a sharp pain as the vampire bit into her neck and started drinking her blood. Rena began to struggle, trying to break free from Black's grip. However, the next moment, she fell limp. She was hopelessly trapped as Black continued to drink her blood.

Her vision blurred as she felt her body turn cold and she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Black released Rena’s neck and held the unconscious girl in her arms, licking the blood off her lips. The flavor of it still lingered in her mind. She had never tasted blood so sweet.  
  
She looked at the girl in her arms. Rena looked like a sleeping princess, except for that scowl that was etched on her forehead. Black suddenly felt sorry for the girl.  
  
She moved aside some of her hair where the bite mark was and gently kissed it, making it heal. She then picked up the girl’s fallen dagger, however, after feeling the silver burn her hand, she dropped it.   
  
 _“I am a vampire. She’s a hunter. I must remember my place.”_  
  
She thought about what to do with the dagger, when a thought came. She tore off a piece of her clothing and wrapped the knife in the cloth, so the silver metal wouldn’t touch or burn her. She placed it in her pocket before lifting Rena up, carrying her as she walked through the shadows of the night.   
  
With a title such as “royal”, Black owned a grand mansion secluded in the deepest, darkest part of the city. The doors opened widely as Black walked in and closed behind her, the loud echo of the doors creaking and closing shut resonating through the empty manor. She walked up the stairs to an empty bedroom; Black never needed it, since she rarely ever slept, but it was always just there in the mansion.  
  
She laid Rena down on the bed and watched over her silently as she slept. Silver moonlight shone through the window, illuminating the girl’s porcelain skin.   
  
“It’s been so long… You’ve grown up to be a hunter just like them, haven’t you.. Rena?”  
  
Black had met Rena before. Or rather, she had seen her, only once. A very long time ago…  
  
 _Flashback, 6 years ago…_  
  
It was the very night Rena and Jurina’s parents were killed by a powerful vampire. Black was there when it had happened. She saw how the two girls cowered in fear, crying over their parents’ lifeless bodies, as the monster crept forward, eying the two.  
  
In a panic, Rena had picked up her father’s gun and pointed it at the vampire. Her hand shook as she aimed it, threatening to kill him.  
  
“Go away..! Don’t come any closer..!”  
  
Black saw the whole thing unfold. That monster, an evil, merciless Royal vampire, was going to take the lives of those two innocent children. It was a miracle that their parents had arrived to save them. However, at the cost of their own lives.  
  
The vampire smirked as he stared at them.  
  
“We shall meet again,” he turned and left the two. Rena held her younger sister as she cried into her chest.  
  
When he returned, Black asked him, “Why didn’t you kill them?”  
  
“Everyone has to wait for when the apple is ripest, correct? They’re still young, not fully matured.”  
  
He looked at Black and smirked again.  
  
“Why have you been watching over them for so long now? Something about that girl peaked your interest?”  
  
“It’s none of your business.”  
  
“Just remember. You can never be with that girl. You’re both from two different worlds.”  
  
 _End of Flashback_  
  
“I should’ve seen this coming…”  
  
Black felt disgusted by herself. Why did she care so much for those two human girls? And specifically of the two, Rena? She had felt guilty when she saw the two at their own parents’ funeral. There was this burning pain in her chest whenever she saw Rena’s face, a mix of grief and anger in her eyes.  
  
She didn’t know why she let the girl catch her attention. Just every now and then, the memory would pop back in and out and always remind her of the girl. She simply sighed and looked back over at Rena.  
  
 _“These feelings are forbidden… we’re from two different worlds… yet…”_ Her hand slowly reached out to touch Rena’s hair.  _“Whenever I see her, it feels…”_  
  
Before her fingers could touch her, however, Rena’s eyes snapped open and she looked straight into Black’s.  
  
Black pulled her hand away and slowly stepped back as Rena sat up from the bed, completely in shock over the situation.  
  
“You..!” Rena reached for her blade, but she realized it wasn’t where it should be. “Eh? Where? Where is it?!”  
  
Black took out the blade wrapped in cloth. However, she hesitated on giving it back, as she knew this girl was out to kill her.   
  
Rena glared at Black. “You monster…”  
  
“Please,” Black tried to reason, placing the blade back in her pocket. “I don’t want to fight.”  
  
“I think otherwise…” Rena growled as her hand balled into a fist.  
  
No weapons meant she was left to fight with her bare hands. She ran up to the vampire and swung her arm to punch her, but immediately missed. Black wasn’t going to use her speed this time; it would only cause more trouble. She wasn’t going to fight, so she was merely relying on her reflexes to dodge.  
  
“Vampire..! I’ll kill you!” the hunter roared as she ran to attack Black once again.  
  
After a few dodges, she was able to catch the vampire off guard and landed a punch on her cheek. Soon after her guard was weakened, she was stricken down by another punch. She touched the blood on her lips with her thumb.  
  
Black smirked. “You’re trained well.”  
  
“Don’t flatter me,” Rena growled with anger as she lifted Black up, punching her repeatedly. “All of you vampires are the same..! Monsters! You only care about yourselves!”  
  
“R-Rena…”  
  
Anger flared in Rena’s eyes and she swung her arm harder. “Don’t you DARE say my name!”  
  
Black knew it’d be bad having this girl who’s out to kill her in her own home. And if she let this girl leave, she’d still want revenge and come back for her with more than just a gun and a silver blade. If she told the other hunters her location, it’d mean the end of her.  
  
She had no other choice. She had to make Rena forget.  
  
Before she could land another punch, she quickly grabbed Rena’s fist and pushed her down, making them switch positions. She pinned both of her wrists to the floor as Rena struggled to be released from her grip.  
  
“Let me go! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you once and for all, vampire!” she yelled angrily.  
  
To hypnotize somebody, one needs to look straight in the eyes. But with Rena thrashing around, Black found it to be a bit more difficult. She needs to catch her off guard, make Rena look at her eyes.  
  
She smirked as an idea crossed her mind.  
  
With some difficulty, Black managed to grab both of Rena’s hands in one hand, and at the same time grab Rena’s face with another. She held her chin and touched her forehead against Rena’s, their lips just inches apart.  
  
“Let go..!” Rena tried to struggle out, but Black maintained her grip.  
  
Her eyes locked on the vampires, staring into the pitch black orbs against her will.  
  
“Don’t fight.” Black said softly.  
  
Rena’s struggling ceased, but she was still trying to break free from her restraints.  
  
“I said don’t fight.” Black said in a more forceful tone.   
  
After that, Rena’s struggling finally stopped. Her eyes lost their light and become empty and lifeless.  
  
“Just relax. Everything’s okay, there’s no need to fight.”  
  
“..No need… to fight…”  
  
Black stood up while pulling Rena with her. She released her hands and they both fell limp at her sides. She smiled as she kept staring into Rena’s empty eyes, further hypnotizing her.  
  
“You will go back to your headquarters. You will tell them that you did not find me, and you will forget what I look like in two days time.”  
  
Rena stared back at Black with unblinking eyes. “Okay.. I will do as you say.”  
  
“Good. Now go.”  
  
Rena obediently turned around and left the room. Black shut the door as she took out Rena’s blade. She knew she had to return it. She couldn’t keep it.  
  
She placed the cloth covered dagger on her dresser.  
  
“I’ll give it back the next time I meet her… whenever that will be…” Black sighed out, holding her cross. “But… she’ll still hate me.. because I’m a vampire… I can’t make her change how she feels…”  
  
Then, another idea crossed her mind.  
  
“Unless…”  
  
\---------------------------  
  
As Rena was walking down the city streets that night, she dialed a certain number on her phone. She heard it ringing on the other line before the person picked up.  
  
 _“Rena. Did you find her?”_  Takamina’s voice answered.  
  
“Yes. She thinks that I forgot about her. I’m gonna lay low for a while, just in case she tries to move again. Once she does, I’ll catch her when she least expects it and kill her.”  
  
 _“That’s why you’re our Ace.”_  
  
“I’ll be coming over there to pick up Jurina so we can go home.”  
  
 _“Alright. Night, Rena.”_  
  
“Night, Takamina.”  
  
As she hung up, Rena walked to the train station and got on the last ride to her home. She watched the night view past as she kept thinking about that vampire.  
  
 _“She’s stronger than I expected… I need to plan something for the next time I face her.”_  
  
She arrived at her stop and stepped out of the train to the station. That night, she walked alone as she was contemplating on how to face that vampire. More importantly, she knew she had to find her dagger and get it back. It was important to her; she needed to find it fast so she can kill that vampire Black.  
  
Rena finally arrived home and saw that there was only one light on, coming from a lamp in the kitchen. There, she saw Jurina, sleeping on top of the counter table. There was an empty plate and glass in front of her, implying that she had finished dinner, as well as some homework papers from her school. She is still in high school, after all.  
  
Rena smiled and pet her younger sister’s hair as she looked at her sleeping face.  
  
“You really won’t change, will you?” she whispered before picking Jurina up into her arms and carrying her to her bedroom.  
  
“Rena-chan…” she heard the puppy girl whisper in her sleep. “Rena-chan.. come home safe…”  
  
She smiled slightly, seeing how Jurina cared for her so much. Rena set her down in the bed and tucked her in. She then gently leaned forward and kissed her forehead.  
  
“I’m here, Jurina. Don’t worry.. no vampire can ever keep me from you. I won’t let it happen.”  
  
~~~Flash Forward~~~  
  
Two days had passed since Rena had seen Black. She had disappeared from Japan without a trace. They weren’t even able to find her mansion, even though Rena remembered the exact path of where it was.  
  
She knew that the vampire must’ve been planning something.  
  
But, in any case, Rena continued to lay low so Black wouldn’t catch what she was doing. She remembered how she was able to resist Black’s hypnosis and faked having her memories erased. Now, the vampire wouldn’t be suspicious of Rena coming back. Then, like a stealthy panther eying her prey, Rena would pounce and kill Black when she finally cornered her.  
  
Rena and Jurina were training together when Sayaka called all the hunters together. They all stood in front of the tall girl as they saw a very happy face on her.  
  
“I have good news. We just got a new hunter in. She’s going to make a very formidable ally. Come on,” she called the person forward.  
  
Rena’s eyes widened.  _“No…!”_  
  
The girl smiled as she pulled some of her raven black hair behind her ear, smiling as she looked at them with dark, almost pitch black eyes.  
  
“It’s nice to meet all of you. My name is Kashiwagi Yuki. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”


	3. Chapter 3

“It’s nice to meet all of you. My name is Kashiwagi Yuki. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu,” Yuki bowed in front of the group of hunters.  
  
Just then, Rena quickly pointed her gun in Yuki’s direction. Everyone backed away, shocked.  
  
“Eh?!”  
  
“Rena, what’s wrong?”  
  
“Sayaka, get away from her!” Rena yelled. “That girl’s Black! She’s a vampire!”  
  
The woman furrowed her eyebrows, confused. “What? No, she’s not. Yuki’s a human, just like all of us.”  
  
“No! She’s lying, whatever she told you, it’s a façade! I know it, she’s Black!”  
  
Yuki thought in the back of her mind,  _“The hypnosis didn’t work..? She still remembers me…”_  
  
Takamina pulled Rena back. “Rena, you must be a bit stressed since a few days ago. Yuki may look like her, but me and Sayaka can assure you, she’s human.”  
  
“But…”  
  
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of Black when we can. For now, your new mission is to help Yuki-chan train.”  
  
“Haa?!” Rena’s jaw dropped. “No way in HELL am I--”  
  
Takamina silenced her and leaned in her ear.  
  
“Behave and be nice to Yuki-chan, and if you don’t try to kill her, I’ll treat you to a limited edition gourmet melonpan.”  
  
Rena felt weak at that statement. Not because of the melonpan (because she loved melonpan), but because now that everyone saw her make a scene, she was going to have to hide her hatred towards the now human-disguised vampire girl.  
  
“Okay…”  
  
“Good!” Takamina smiled and slapped Rena’s back. “Now, go apologize and make nice! Just play along, play along~”  
  
Rena saw Takamina wink as she said one of her many catchphrases. She walked up to Yuki, giving her a glare before faking a smile.  
  
“Please forgive me. I mistook you for someone.”  
  
“No problem,” Yuki said sweetly. “I hope we can get along.”  
  
“Me too.”  
  
They bowed to each other, and when Rena looked up, she saw Yuki give a slight glare. She then heard her voice inside her head.  
  
 _“How disappointing, you still remember everything. You’re much stronger than I thought.”_  
  
Rena scowled, not showing the others however as they smiled and Rena started to walk back. She heard Black speak in her mind again.  
  
 _“Meet me in private later.”_  
  
After that, they took a short break from training. As Rena left the room and walked down the hall, she saw a shadow flash by her and Black herself appeared in front of her.  
  
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Rena said sarcastically, then she got serious. “What the hell are you doing here?”  
  
“I was going to try and make peace,” Black said. “But that scene you just made is gonna cause some trouble. Why did you fake being hypnotized? More importantly, how are you able to resist? No one’s been able to do that.”  
  
The hunter smirked. “We hunters have been trained to block your mind control. You can’t get anything through me.”  
  
“Oh really?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
“Then… how come Akimoto and Takahashi weren’t able to?”  
  
Rena’s eyes widened. “What..?!”  
  
 _Flashback, yesterday_  
  
Black entered the hunter base while Sayaka and Takamina were practicing one-on-one late at night. When the two saw her, they immediately took action.  
  
“Vampire!”  
  
Sayaka was the first to approach her and threw a punch. Black caught her fist and twisted her arm behind her back, locking her gaze.  
  
“You won’t fight,” Black tried to hypnotize her, but Sayaka wasn’t cracking. She flipped the vampire over and pinned her down. Black coughed as she fell hard. “So… there are some who can resist. I see…”  
  
“Takamina, get the silver bullets!”  
  
Before Takamina could head to the armory, Black held out her arm and made Takamina stop in her tracks, unable to move her legs.  
  
“Argh..! Sayaka, I can’t move..!”  
  
Black took her chance to escape while Sayaka was distracted. She grabbed Sayaka and pulled her down, staring into her eyes.  
  
“No..!”  
  
“You won’t fight.” She held Sayaka’s head in place as she put her under. Sayaka’s body fell weak and she stared blankly into the vampire’s eyes. “You won’t remember me. You can’t see me. Not until tomorrow.”  
  
“Not until tomorrow…”  
  
Black then looked at Takamina straight in the eyes. Takamina immediately tried to look away, but Black appeared in front of her and held her chin, making her look at her eyes and hypnotizing her.  
  
“Same for you, Takahashi. You won’t remember that I’m Black.”  
  
“Won’t remember…”  
  
“The both of you will let me join this agency, as human Kashiwagi Yuki.”  
  
“Kashiwagi Yuki.. join hunters…” both spoke in unison while under trance.  
  
 _End of Flashback_  
  
“As I expected it wouldn’t be easy, once I got them where I wanted them, they became so easy to bend and mold to my liking. Just like clay.”  
  
Rena growled in anger, grabbing Black’s collar. “Don’t you dare call them clay!”  
  
Black chuckled. “You’re either really brave or really stupid to face me.”  
  
“Why you..!” Rena was about to punch her when Black vanished and reappeared behind her.  
  
“I told you, I’m not going to fight. But I will if I have to,” she warned the hunter. “For now, let’s try to get along. If someone catches us fighting, it could be bad on your part.”  
  
Black started to leave and Rena scowled at her before turning to leave as well.  
  
As the vampire was walking down the hall, she was searching for a certain room.  
  
“Where do they keep all the information around here..?” she mumbled silently.  
  
As she was looking around, she ran into a certain hunter she recognized as Sashihara. She saw her with Minegishi Minami before when they were training, and she seemed to have a bit of trouble with training because she was jumpy. Minegishi kept calling her “hetare” because of it.  
  
“Kashiwagi-san, I’m so sorry!” she bowed, but then realized something. “Are? What are you doing back here? You aren’t supposed to go this way.”  
  
“Oh really…” Black smiled inside.  
  
“Yeah, only people with special permission can go back this way. I’m only going because I have to see Acchan about the whereabouts of Black. Now that Rena mentioned it, I became curious and--”  
  
Black stopped the hunter’s ranting as she stared into her eyes and she was hypnotized almost immediately.  
  
“You’ll do as I say. You didn’t see me come through here.”  
  
“I didn’t see you…”  
  
“You will also forget about Black.”  
  
“Forget Black…”  
  
“Now knock yourself out.”  
  
Sashihara then turned to the wall and slammed her head into it, falling unconscious.  
  
Black was actually surprised. She knew that there were humans who were weak toward her hypnosis, but this is a first.  
  
Then, the vampire realized…  
  
“Damn! I should’ve asked her where that Acchan girl was. I have to find her to erase her memories of me.”  
  
She then heard someone humming and saw Minegishi coming this was. When she saw the situation, she nearly screamed.  
  
“W-what happened?!”  
  
“Minegishi-san, right?”  
  
“Uh, Miichan is fine. But, what’s going on? Why is Sasshi unconscious? Er, more importantly, why are you back here?”  
  
“I’m looking for Acchan. Sasshi told me about her… then, she ran into a wall and passed out.”  
  
“Just like her, that hetare. Acchan works in the tech room, along with Mayuyu, who works intel. But, you can’t go back here, it’s only for--”   
  
Black didn’t wanna hear this same lecture so she looked at Miichan’s eyes and she was entranced in a matter of seconds. She smiled like an idiot with empty eyes.  
  
“Pretty eyes~...”  
  
“You didn’t see me go through here, also you will forget about Black.”  
  
“Okay, I’ll forget…”  
  
“Also, how can I get to where Acchan and Mayuyu are? Who can help?”  
  
“That’s… Sae knows.”  
  
“Sae..?” Black repeated. She didn’t remember seeing someone who went by that name. Yet, it felt familiar...  
  
“Sae has special permission. She knows every room of the building. She can show you where Acchan and Mayuyu are…”  
  
“Where is she right now?”  
  
“Today’s her day off… she’s at her home.. she lives in an apartment in Tokyo; ask Sayaka or Yuko, they know where she lives...”  
  
“Good. Now, knock yourself out.”  
  
Miichan did the same thing as Sasshi and smacked her head against the wall. She was out like a light, landing on top of Sasshi.  
  
“Well, that went well,” the vampire smirked.  
  
\---------------------------  
  
Matsui Rena was furious.  
  
No… “Furious” is just an understatement. Rena was beyond pissed to an extent that there was nothing she could do to cease her own anger.  
  
Well, it’s not that she wanted to anyway.  
  
She kept punching the bag in front of her hard as she kept thinking about that vampire Black. The thought of her only riled her anger more. She kicked, punched, she did everything to just get her anger out completely.  
  
Jurina happened to notice her sister seemed rather stressed and approached her.  
  
“Rena-chan?”  
  
As if she didn’t hear her sister, Rena kept on punching the bag.  
  
“RENA-CHAN!”  
  
The next thing Jurina saw was a fist flying her way, thanks to her fast reflexes, she dodged it.  
  
“Jurina..!” Rena calmed down a bit, realizing it was only her little sister. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“I got worried. You seemed really stressed about something.”  
  
“I-it’s nothing, really! I just feel a little bit tired, that’s all.”  
  
“Are you still thinking about Black? Because of your mission?”  
  
“I…”  
  
“Is that why you thought Yuki-san was Black?”  
  
“Jurina, just LEAVE ME ALONE!” Rena raised her voice, causing everyone to look. Rena immediately felt guilty when she saw Jurina’s sad eyes. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t--”  
  
“Rena,” Sayaka walked over to the two sisters. “Maybe you should take Jurina home and take a break for today.”  
  
“What? But I--”  
  
“Please. You’re obviously still worked up about what happened a few nights ago. You deserve some rest.”  
  
Rena saw Sayaka’s eyes were sincere. She sighed. “...Fine. Let’s go, Jurina.” She went out without waiting for her sister.  
  
Jurina looked at the taller girl. “Will Rena be okay?”  
  
Sayaka patted her head.  
  
“Just take care of her, okay? When Rena gets like this, she needs someone to reassure her things will be okay. I’m sure she’d do the same for you, right?”  
  
The younger girl nodded. “Okay. I’ll take care of Rena-chan.”  
  
She quickly went to catch up with her older sister, who was already outside the building waiting for her.  
  
“C’mon, I’m hungry~.” Jurina chirped as she clinged to Rena’s arm.  
  
Rena let her sister cling onto her, because she felt guilty for her sudden outburst.  
  
“Jurina…”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“..I’m sorry.”  
  
Jurina hugged Rena tight.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, nee-chan! We all have these kind of moments.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
Jurina paused as if she was reminded of something. But then she smiled and answered, “Oh, y’know, being stressed out and stuff like that. It’s nothing.”  
  
“Oh. Well, if that’s all.”  
  
“Come on Rena-chan~ You owe me some ice cream!”  
  
“Hai, hai. I know. I’ll get you your favorite, choco-vanilla swirl. The good kind they sell near the train station.”  
  
“Yay! I love you, nee-chan~ Chuu~~~”  
  
“Oi, no kisses, kissing monster!”  
  
“Oh come on, just one! Hahaha!”  
  
“IYAA!!!”  
  
\---------------------------  
  
Later that evening, Yuki was finishing up a long day of training when she saw Sayaka getting ready to leave.  
  
“Sayaka-san,” she approached her with a sweet smile. “Hey, Miichan told me about this hunter named Sae.”  
  
“Oh yeah. I forgot, today was her day off.”  
  
“I wanted to meet her. She told me she knew about every room in the building; maybe she could give me a tour.”  
  
“Great idea. Here, I’ll give you her address,” Sayaka quickly wrote down Sae’s apartment address on a scrap of paper and handed it to Yuki. “There you go.”  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
Yuki bowed to her senpai as she grabbed her things and left the agency building. She followed the address Sayaka had given her until she reached the apartment building Sae lived in.  
  
Standing outside, Yuki counted the windows until she found the ones that belonged to Sae’s flat. She walked up the stairs to the floor where her apartment was.  
  
The lights were on, that means Sae’s at home. She walked up to the apartment door and knocked.  
  
“Coming~” A voice answered from the other side.  
  
When the door opened, she came face-to-face with a person she hadn’t seen in quite some time. A familiar face, of someone who, like Rena, had tried to killed her. When she met the girl’s gaze, she saw the spark in her eyes that showed she recognized her as well.  
  
“You…!”  
  
“Well, well. I was right then, I thought something seemed familiar,” Black chuckled. “You look as handsome as ever, Sae.. although you’re a girl.”  
  
“Why are you here?!”  
  
Black immediately sped into Sae’s apartment. “How rude~. Is that any way to treat someone you haven’t seen in so long?”  
  
“You tried to kill me, you murderous vampire,” Sae growled lowly as she shut the door.  
  
“I could say the same.”  
  
The boyish girl grabbed a kitchen knife and held it in front of her.  
  
“Oh, how cute,” Black taunted. “Something like that won’t kill me… but it’d be amusing to see you try.”  
  
“Don’t underestimate me!”   
  
Gripping the knife tightly in her hands, Sae charged.  
  
She either forgot about their previous encounter, or she just didn’t care. The hunter was bent on killing Black. Wanting to end it once and for all.  
  
Either way, Black wasn’t going to let this hunter get in her way. Sae was just a human, after all.  
  
As Sae charged, she spun around and dodged the oncoming attack. As she turned, she thrust her elbow into the hunter’s back, knocking her down from the strong force.  
  
Black smirked. The expression of Sae’s angered face was priceless.  
  
“Still doesn’t compare to Rena’s angered expression, though,” she thought back in her mind.  
  
She held up one finger and taunted Sae.  
  
“Come and get me.”  
  
“Why you..!”  
  
Recovering from her fall, Sae advanced again. That spot on her back where the vampire hit was still throbbing painfully.  
  
“You really haven’t changed from back then,” Black smirked.  
  
“Same as you.”  
  
“How’s that scar?”  
  
“Just a scar. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”  
  
“For me, that’s many things.”  
  
Black’s face turned serious. As Sae was about to charge with the knife again, she pushed her back and sent her flying to the other side of the room, hitting the wall.  
  
The vampire slowly approached Sae, looking down on her as she was unable to get back up from the pain. She knelt down and held Sae’s shoulder, pushing her against the wall.  
  
“Poor thing… does it hurt?”  
  
“Stay away from me,” Sae tried to push her away, but Black got closer.  
  
“Now, now, relax,” the vampire held Sae’s cheek, caressing it. “Let me kiss you and make it better.”  
  
The vampire leaned in and kissed Sae’s lips. She was frozen as her lips pressed against Black’s, unable to move as if some poison had gotten into her. And without her knowing, she found herself staring straight into Black’s eyes and falling under her spell.  
  
The knife dropped to the floor and Sae’s eyes closed. She started responding to the kisses and her whole body was heating up from the sensation.  
  
Seeing that the hunter was getting into it, Black swiped her tongue against Sae’s lower lip and proceeded to deepen the kiss. The latter’s arms wrapped around Black’s neck and pulled her in further as they indulged further, their tongues intertwining.  
  
Black gave a little teasing nibble at Sae’s bottom lip before pulling away, seeing Sae’s glazed eyes and a pleased expression.  
  
“You like that?”  
  
Sae nodded in reply.  
  
“You want more?”  
  
“Yes..!”  
  
“Then, you have to do me a favor. I need to get inside Intel to do a few important things. Can you make sure no one tries to interfere? I would hate for something to happen~.”  
  
“Of course.. I’ll do that..”  
  
“Especially, that Rena girl. Perhaps you can distract her for me until my job is finished,” Black tapped her chin before she thought of the perfect plan. “I know. Tomorrow, when I give the signal, I want you to find her and keep her distracted by seducing her. You’ll be so head over heels for her, all you want is her, just for yourself. Just keep her away long enough for me to finish. You can do that, right?”  
  
“Yes.. keep Rena away…”  
  
“And, lastly, you’ll completely forget that I’m Black. You only recognize me as Kashiwagi Yuki. Understood?”  
  
Sae nodded with empty eyes. “Understood.”  
  
“Good~.” Black kissed Sae’s lips shortly before moving down to her neck. “Now, a little reward. Itadakimasu~”  
  
She bit into Sae’s neck and drank her blood, a small yelp escaping the hunter. The pain was soon replaced with pleasure and Sae clutched onto Black’s shirt, her heart racing.  
  
Black licked her lips as she separated from her. She held up Sae’s chin and smiled.  
  
“Let’s continue this somewhere more private.” She then picked her up on her feet and dragged her into the bedroom. Their long night was about to continue…


	4. Chapter 4

Rena woke up the next morning and saw her younger sister was still peacefully asleep, snuggled against Rena’s chest with a smile on her face.  
  
She had made a promise to herself that she won’t raise her voice at Jurina ever again. Yesterday’s events really took a toll on her, but she isn’t going to let some stupid vampire upset her and her sister.  
  
She slowly got up so Jurina could sleep as she left and went to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed her face before heading into the kitchen and preparing to make breakfast.  
  
As she was preparing breakfast, Rena heard feet shuffling into the kitchen.  
  
“Morning, Rena-chan~”  
  
A certain puppy sat down at the dining table, eyes still droopy from sleep.  
  
“Good morning, sleepy head.” Rena smiled as she placed the food on the plates. “You look like you slept well.”  
  
“I had a dream that I was in Ice Cream Land floating on a chocolate river…” Jurina mumbled softly. Rena giggled at the remark as she placed Jurina’s breakfast in front of her.  
  
“Let’s eat up before we head to the agency.”  
  
“Hai~ itadakimasu.” Jurina smiled as she picked up her utensils and dug into her breakfast.  
  
Rena set her plate down and sat in front of her sister.  
  
“Itadakimasu,” she said before she indulged in her morning meal.  
  
“It’s really nice out today,” Jurina smiled as she looked at the morning sun coming through the window.  
  
“Let’s hope it doesn’t rain. The weather forecaster is usually wrong all the time.”  
  
Jurina giggled at her statement. “Maybe if it stays sunny, the two of us can have an outdoor picnic for lunch.”  
  
“Perhaps I should bring an umbrella just in case.”  
  
“Oh c’mon, nee-chan~ Let’s not worry about it. Today’s gonna be a good day! I can feel it.”  
  
Rena smiled. “If you say so.”  
  
After breakfast had finished, the two cleaned their plates and got dressed to head to the agency. As they rode on the train taking them to the building, Rena was thinking about how she would handle Black.  
  
She knew she’d be in trouble if she isn’t able to reveal Yuki’s true nature in time. Who knows what she could be planning. Even though she said she wants redemption, Rena just had a hunch there was more she was hiding. She knew, one day, she was going to reveal her true intentions.  
  
Rena was going to stop her, no matter what it took.  
  
 _“I won’t forgive vampires… I’ll kill them, all of them…”_  
  
“Re~na~chan~” Jurina poked Rena’s cheek. “Quit staring into space~”  
  
“Oh, sorry.”  
  
“You’re worrying again, aren’t you?”  
  
“I’m sorry…”  
  
Jurina kissed her sister’s cheek.  
  
“Don’t apologize. We all have moments like that.”  
  
Rena put her head on Jurina’s shoulder. “Thank you, Jurina. For always being there for me.”  
  
Surprised by her sister’s sudden actions, Jurina said nothing. She just held her hand up and smoothed Rena’s hair. This moment felt so peaceful. Jurina felt as if she was going to fall back asleep in her sister’s arms.  
  
But then, they arrived at their stop. She quickly brushed off the drowsiness and she and Rena got off.  
  
As the pair walk into the building, they were met by a very out-of-breath Takamina.  
  
“You came just in time!” the short girl said. “We have received info of a couple of Daywalkers robbing a nearby hospital.”  
  
Jurina smirked. “Seems like somebody’s hungry. Mou, Rena-chan. Let’s go hunt some vampires!” She ran in the direction of the armory.  
  
Rena turned to Takamina. “Don’t worry. We got this.”  
  
Takamina looked worried. “Are you sure? What happened yesterday--”  
  
“I know. I just mistook her for another person, that’s all. I have already apologized to her.”  
  
“Alright then. Just be careful, and look after that sister of yours. She always dives in head-first when it comes to these missions.”  
  
Rena chuckled. “She can’t help it. She’s still a kid.”  
  
She then saluted and went with Jurina to load their weapons. Not too far from them, Yuki and Sae had entered the agency building.  
  
Yuki passed by the pair as they left the building, grinning as she saw her plan was going very accordingly. She turned to her still brainwashed servant and whispered in her ear.  
  
“Keep a good look out,” she said as Sae nodded.  
  
\-----------------------------------  
  
Yuki first headed for the armory.  
  
Maeda Atsuko- aka Acchan, was the head of the weapons department of the agency. She often teamed up with Mayu to invent new weapons and come up with new battle strategies.  
  
Acchan just had her big breakfast, and is now dozing off at her desk. Black came in and saw the sleeping girl. She saw it as the perfect opportunity to brainwash her while her body was still tired.  
  
She quietly approached the sleeping girl and whispered in her ear.  
  
“Acchan… Wake up, Acchan.”  
  
Acchan’s eyes drowsily opened and looked at Black.  
  
“Who..?”  
  
“Look at me, Acchan,” Black leaned forward and hypnotized the girl with her eyes. “Look deep into my eyes.”  
  
“What…?”  
  
When her eyes finally adjusted, all Acchan could see was Black’s mesmerizing eyes. Her eyes drooped sleepily as she was locked on Black’s gaze.  
  
“Good,” Black smiled. “You’ll do as I say, understand?”  
  
“Yes.. I’ll do as you say…”  
  
“You will completely forget the existence of the vampire Black. In your mind, there is nothing but emptiness when the name is brought up. Blank, like a fresh sheet of paper.”  
  
“Blank… empty…”  
  
“You’re also good with tech, correct?” Black then asked. Acchan responded in a nod. “Good. You’ll destroy all the security footage from the past two days. Leave it completely erased.”  
  
“Erase security footage…”  
  
“Very good,” Black smiled and caressed Acchan’s short hair. “Now, you will go and do what I have told, and when you come back, you’ll fall back asleep and wake up with no memory of what happened.”  
  
“No memory…”  
  
Black nodded. “Now go.”  
  
Acchan nodded and blankly stood up, walking out of the armory and into the room where the security footage was held. She saw a cup of hot coffee which belonged to the person who watched over it, who was now deeply napping.  
  
She took the cup and knocked it over onto the computer hard drive, causing it to short circuit. She knew that once they got it fixed, all the data of the security footage was gone forever. She left and when Black saw the blacked out computer screens, she knew that there was good progress in her work.  
  
“These cameras should be shut down for quite some time now,” she said before heading to her next destination.  
  
She found the room where Intel was located and slowly opened the door. In the pitch black room, she saw a girl sitting at a table with many computers showing all kinds of info. She was surprised at how one person could do all this work.  
  
It didn’t seem the girl notice her, so she simply closed the door and walked in. When she tapped her shoulder, the girl jumped back.  
  
“Woah!” She backed away as her eyes adjusted and saw Black. “You scared me… Um, who are you? It’s really dark in here…”  
  
When Mayu adjusted her eyes again, the light from the computers reflected some of Black’s face. Mayu’s eyes widened.  
  
“You’re..!”  
  
“Shh, don’t scream,” Black placed her finger on Mayu’s lips and moved away some of her bangs. “Just relax… everything’s going to be just fine.”  
  
“W-why are you here..?! How did a vampire--?!”  
  
Black grabbed Mayu’s face and pushed her against the table, making her sit down.  
  
The vampire placed her knee in between Mayu’s legs as she stroked her shoulder seductively, holding her face and staring into her eyes. She saw Mayu’s eyes growing hazy, but she wasn’t falling under.  
  
She smirked and leaned forward, kissing her lips deeply. Mayu’s eyes widened and was completely captivated in Black’s gaze. Her pupils dilated and became empty. Black continued to tease Mayu a bit and nibbled her ear, the latter pursing her lips as she tried to contain herself.  
  
A few cries escaped her lips as Black continued her teasing and trailed her lips down to Mayu’s neck. She was about to take a bite when…  
  
“Jurina…”  
  
Her eyes widened and she pulled away. Mayu’s eyes fluttered, nearly shutting, and her cheeks flushed.  
  
“Jurina… the truth is.. I l-like…”  
  
“I understand.” Yuki caressed Mayu’s cheek, staring into her eyes and hypnotizing her further. “But for now, you will obey my commands. You will exactly what I say.”  
  
“I’ll do exactly what you say…”  
  
“You’re going to delete all the information you have on the vampire Black. Erase every piece of data off your hard drive. Leave nothing.”  
  
“Leave nothing about Black…”  
  
“You will also erase every memory you have of her from your mind. She won’t exist, you will know nothing of her. You won’t remember.”  
  
“I won’t remember…”  
  
“Good.” Yuki kissed Mayu’s cheek, then whispered in her ear. “Let’s continue what we left off, shall we?”  
  
She then leaned down and kissed Mayu’s neck, causing the girl to cry out. Black bared her fangs and bit into her soft skin, tasting her blood. Mayu’s hands clung desperately to Black’s shirt, then fell limp the next second.  
  
Black parted and wiped away the blood on her lips. She recognized the taste, it was the same as Sae’s that night. The most delicious kind of blood.  
  
 _“Virgin blood…”_  
  
She touched the wound slightly and kissed it, making to heal just like Rena’s.   
  
While she had the thought of Mayu and Sae’s taste, she had suddenly thought back to Rena. Something about the taste of her blood intrigued her. It wasn’t virgin’s blood, she could tell. But there was still something that distinguishes it from anything she had ever tasted before.  
  
As she was thinking about it, she soon got back on her train of thought as her eyes trailed off and she noticed a cabinet not too far from where they were.  
  
“What’s in there?” Black asked, pointing at the cabinet.  
  
“Files…” Mayu said breathlessly. “Profiles and information of.. every vampire we’ve encountered…”  
  
She walked over to the cabinet and opened one of the drawers. She found her profile and pulled it out, closing the drawer back.  
  
“This won’t be needed any longer,” she said before, almost like magic, she made the file burn instantaneously and fall to the ground in ashes.  
  
She then walked over to Mayu who had a still blank expression.  
  
“Now… proceed.”  
  
Mayu nodded and turned to the computer, her fingers typing away as Black smiled.  
  
\----------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Rena and Jurina finally came back after having battled out the Daywalkers.  
  
“Man~ that was quite a fight they put up,” Jurina rubbed her neck.  
  
Rena hissed as she placed a band-aid on her cheek, which had a wound from the fight. Jurina also had a few places bandaged up, but for the most part, she was okay.  
  
“Yes.. they would’ve almost got away.”  
  
“Just barely, though. No one can stop us, right, Rena-chan?”  
  
Rena looked back to see her sister’s smile. She smiled as well.  
  
“Yup.”  
  
It was then that the agency’s nurse, who focuses on the medical ward, Kojima Haruna arrived.  
  
“Hi, girls!” She smiled. “Looks like you had a rough mission.”  
  
“A bit.”  
  
“Nothing we can’t handle.”  
  
“Alright. You let me know if I can do anything,” she winked.  
  
“Of course, Haruna.”  
  
“Bye Nyan-nyan~” Jurina waved as the two exited the room.  
  
As they stepped out of the infirmary, Rena noticed Yuki walking down the corridor. She felt something fishy was going on, noticing the direction she came from.  
  
“Hey, Jurina. Did you see Yuki leaving Intel?”  
  
Jurina’s eyebrows furrowed. “No. Why?”  
  
“I think I just saw her leave that way.” Rena pointed to where she last saw Yuki.  
  
“Huh, weird. She shouldn’t be down there unless she got special permission from someone. What do you think happened?”  
  
“I don’t know. But something’s…” Rena started to walk towards the door to Intel, but was stopped as she was pushed to the wall. “Eh?!”  
  
She looked and saw Sae in front of her, extremely close to her.  
  
“Sae? What are you doing?”  
  
“Rena…” Sae had a serious tone. “I can’t hold it anymore..!”  
  
She embraced Rena tightly, shocking the girl. Jurina covered her mouth in shock.  
  
“I.. I love you, Rena!”  
  
 _“HAA?!”_  Rena’s eyes widened.  
  
“I always have… Even today, I could feel my heart pounding looking at you… Rena.. I want you to be mine!”  
  
Sae broke the hug and stared at Rena’s eyes.  
  
“Will you.. be my girlfriend?”  
  
That’s when Rena saw it. Sae’s eyes; they looked empty. Her pupils were dilated, and her normal brown eyes which sparkled with light were pitch black and lifeless.  
  
Rena soon knew something was going on. And Yuki, no, Black had something to do with it. She had to get out of this situation and find Mayu, but Sae had no means of letting her go.  
  
“Jurina? A little help here?”  
  
Jurina was still too shocked to listen to her sister’s words.  
  
“MATSUI JURINA!!!”   
  
The younger girl snapped back into reality and when she saw the situation, she grabbed Sae, pulling her off.  
  
“Hey! What are you-?” Sae tried to punch Jurina, thinking she’s a rival trying to steal Rena away.  
  
“Sorry about this, Sae-chan.”  
  
Jurina then chopped the back of Sae’s neck and knocked her unconscious. The tall girl fell into Jurina’s arms.  
  
“I’ll let her rest in the infirmary. Go check on Mayu.”  
  
“OK.”  
  
As Jurina dragged Sae back into the infirmary, Rena ran down the hall to the room Mayu was in. She opened the door and saw Mayu collapsed in front of her desk, asleep.  
  
“Mayu!” Rena ran to her and looked at her neck. There wasn’t any bite mark from Black, but the scar still remained, which means Black must have healed it. She shook the girl’s shoulders, “Mayu, wake up! Mayu!”  
  
Mayu’s eyes sleepily opened as she woke up and looked at Rena.  
  
“Rena..? What’s wrong?”  
  
“Mayu, where’s Black? She was just in here. I saw her come this way.”  
  
Mayu raised her eyebrow. “Who?”  
  
Rena held her head.  _“Oh no… not Mayu!”_  
  
“Who is Black? I’ve never heard of her.”  
  
The hunter knew she wasn’t going to be able to make Mayu remember Black. She was gone from her mind, which she surely didn’t expect to happen to the genius.  
  
“Nevermind. Did Yuki come this way?”  
  
“Um, I don’t think so…”  
  
“Okay then.” Rena patted Mayu’s head. “Thanks. You can go back to sleep now.”  
  
As the smaller girl went back to sleep, another thought came to Rena’s mind.  
  
“Perhaps I can look at the security footage and find out what happened…”  
  
Rena headed back up and met up with Jurina.  
  
“Sae’s resting now. What got into her all the sudden?”  
  
“I don’t know. You go find Yuki. I’m going to check the surveillance cameras.”  
  
“Alright.”  
  
The two split up again and Rena ran to the surveillance room. She was shocked to see none of the cameras were functioning and everything had shut down.  
  
 _“No…!”_  Rena pulled back her bangs, holding her forehead. Anger burned in her eyes again as she knew, this was Black’s doing.  _“That vampire… She’ll pay for this..!”_  
  
\----------------------  
  
In another part of the building, Jurina was running down the hall in search for Yuki. She had went down every corner, but couldn’t find her. She was gone without a trace.  
  
Jurina placed her hand against the wall as she stopped running to take a breath.  
  
“..Haa… Where could she have gone..?”  
  
“Well, someone looks a bit exhausted,” a voice chimed in.  
  
Jurina looked up and saw a tall woman with short brown hair smiling at her.  
  
“Yo.”  
  
“MARIKO-SAMAAA~~~” The puppy hugged Mariko with a big smile.  
  
“Hey, how are you, my lil puppy?”  
  
“Good~” Jurina smiled, then remembered she was doing something. “Oh, that’s right. Mariko, they keep all sorts of information on vampires in the archives, right?”  
  
“Yeah..?”  
  
“Could you help me access them? I need to find something.”  
  
“Okay. What is it?”  
  
Jurina looked around, making sure no one was there, then whispered, “It’s about a vampire. Black.”  
  
“Black? I think I remember Sae mentioning her once.”  
  
“Yes. Rena faced her a few nights ago, and now she thinks she may have infiltrated as this new girl named Yuki.”  
  
“Sounds serious.” Mariko looked around, then turned back to the girl. “Alright. Let’s go.”  
  
The tall girl lead Jurina down the hall to where the archives were located. She placed her hand on the scanner and let it scan her handprint.  
  
 _“Match: Shinoda Mariko.”_  
  
The door opened and the two stepped in together.  
  
“Anything you need, it’ll surely be in here.”  
  
Mariko walked up to one of the screens and started typing in the information. But the result that came up surprised her.  
  
 _“Data not found.”_  
  
“What..?”  
  
“Maybe her info accidentally got deleted.”  
  
“Maybe…” Mariko attempted to try again, but then the screen glitched and turned red.  
  
 _“ERROR”_  
  
“Error?”  
  
“A bug must’ve got into the system. Sorry, J. It’ll be a while before I can access anything. I’ll call maintenance and have them look at it.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
The two left and had parted ways, so now Jurina was alone.  
  
She turned back to the doorway, looking at it. Then, she punched the wall, her eyes turning serious.  
  
“Kashiwagi Yuki… if you are a vampire… I won’t let you do anything to Rena,” she growled lowly.


	5. Chapter 5

About an hour after training, Rena headed back to the infirmary to check on Sae. When she got there, she found that Sae was awake, and was staring at the ceiling.  
  
“Hey,” Rena got the boyish girl’s attention and saw her smile.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“You alright?”  
  
“I think so… just trying to collect my thoughts. I can’t remember anything since last night.”  
  
“So what did you remember?”  
  
Sae frowned. “I think I was preparing for bed or something…?” she scratched her head.   
  
“Anything else?”  
  
“Oh…” her cheeks suddenly turned red. “I think I had this dream… I can’t remember it clearly, but… it was giving me this weird feeling that made my body hot. I wonder if it was...”  
  
Rena’s cheeks also blushed as she covered her mouth. “You can stop right there.”  
  
“Sorry…”  
  
Both of them remained silent for a bit.  
  
“So… are you still a little tense about what happened between you and Black?”  
  
Rena jolted at the name. “I…”  
  
“Yuki-chan seems nice. I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Sayaka told me about the little outburst you had because you were so stressed out about it.”  
  
“Oh, I see. Well, yes, I am a bit.. upset, but… I’ll get over it. I’ll find her again and get her next time, for sure.”  
  
Sae smiled. “For sure.”  
  
Leaving the infirmary, Rena met up with Jurina.  
  
“Did you find her?”  
  
Jurina shook her head. “No. But I found someone else.”  
  
Rena looked confused. “Who…?”  
  
She then felt a strong presence behind her and, out of reflex, dodged. Rena saw a tall woman with a smirk on her face.  
  
“Looks like you haven’t changed, huh?”  
  
“Mariko-san!”  
  
“How are you, Rena?”  
  
“Good. I see you still like giving your lil tests, huh?”  
  
“Hey, I gotta make sure my Ace is hot on her feet, right?”  
  
Rena giggled.  
  
Juina then hugged Mariko. “Mariko-sama, I’m so happy you came~”  
  
“Anything for you two. My ace hunter and my cute adopted puppy.”  
  
“I wub you, Mariko-mama~~~” Jurina kissed Mariko’s cheek.  
  
“I love you, too.” she ruffled Jurina’s hair.  
  
Yes, Mariko was actually Rena and Jurina’s caretaker. Not just their senior and mentor as hunters, but also their adoptive mother. She took them in after they lost their parents.  
  
 _Flashback, 6 years ago_  
  
When Mariko first arrived at Rena and Jurina’s doorstep, the first person to approach her at the door was Rena. Inside, she saw Jurina was lying on the couch, crying.  
  
“I’m so sorry, you two,” Mariko patted Rena’s head and hugged her.  
  
“Thank you, Mariko-san. I think Jurina needs all the help she can get.”  
  
Mariko stepped in and shut the door, slowly approaching the couch. She sat beside Jurina and was immediately hugged by the younger girl. Her tears soaked Mariko’s shirt as she held the puppy’s head.  
  
“Hey, Jurina. How are you holding up?”  
  
“Mari-chan…” Jurina sniffled, her voice cracking.  
  
“I know it hurts. I’m so sorry.”  
  
“I just wish.. hic… I were stronger…”  
  
“It’s not your fault, Juri-chan. It was the vampires.”  
  
“But if I were strong enough, I might be able to-”   
  
“Jurina,” Rena stopped her. “We’ll do what we can, me and Mariko-san.”  
  
“But, I wanna help too!”  
  
“No. It’s too dangerous for you, and you’re still too young.”  
  
“But I’m already twelve years old!!”  
  
“You’re not trained, Jurina. We cannot look after you when-”  
  
Jurina suddenly snapped, “Who says that I needed protecting! Dad has trained both of us before. I can take care of myself!”  
  
“Oh, really?” Rena felt her temper starting to rise. “Who’s the one that couldn’t throw a decent punch the other day?”  
  
“Are you SERIOUSLY bringing that up NOW?!”  
  
“Alright, enough, you two!” Mariko silenced them. “Nothing is going to change if you keep arguing like this!”  
  
“Fine…” Jurina grumbled. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight Mari-chan.” Giving Rena one last glare, she went upstairs.  
  
When Jurina was out of sight, Rena sank down on the couch.  
  
“You alright?”  
  
“To tell you the truth, no. I’m not alright at all.” Rena gestured in the direction of the stairs, a forced smile on her face. “You saw what happened to Jurina. I’m scared for her, Mariko-san.”  
  
“That’s what I am here for.” Mariko sat down on the couch next to Rena, and took out a piece of paper from her pocket.  
  
"This is..!"  
  
“I’m asking for your permission to adopt Jurina as my daughter, will that be okay with you?”  
  
“That… that’s amazing. Thank you, that would really help.”  
  
“Jurina needs a mother. But she also needs her sister to look out for her. I understand you wanna protect her, she’s just upset about everything.”  
  
“I just want her to be ready when she’s old enough to face the world. If I spoil her too much, she won’t be. That’s why I need to protect her.”  
  
“Yes, but you should also reassure her that she’ll be ready someday.” With that said, Mariko stood up. “I’m going back to the agency. There are some things that I need to take care of.”  
  
Rena moved to grab her coat but Mariko stopped her.  
  
“And what do you think you’re doing, young lady?”  
  
“I’m coming with you.”  
  
“Not tonight, Rena.” Mariko pushed the girl towards the stairs. “Go and talk with your sister. She needs you.”  
  
“But I-”  
  
“No buts. I don’t wanna hear any more arguments. She’s the only family you have left.”  
  
Rena sighed. “Fine. I’ll talk to her.”  
  
“That’s my girl. Now go upstairs. I’ll see myself out.”  
  
Rena nodded and proceeded to climb up the stairs.  
  
\-------  
  
Rena hesitated at Jurina’s door. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door.  
  
“Jurina?”  
  
Silence.  
  
Rena knocked again, a bit louder. “Jurina? Are you awake?”  
  
The next second, the door swung open and Jurina tackled Rena in a hug. Rena heard soft sniffles coming from the girl.  
  
“I’m sorry, Rena.”  
  
“No… I shouldn’t have said all that. Jurina, you’re strong.. I know you are…”  
  
“Rena..-chan…”  
  
Just then, a roar of thunder echoed, causing Jurina to jump, clutching onto Rena’s shirt. Rena looked at the puppy shivering in her lap. Because of some childhood memory, Jurina seemed to be afraid of thunder. She stroked the girl’s hair and hugged her tight.  
  
“Rena-chan… I can’t sleep alone… Will you..?”  
  
Rena smiled. “Of course, Jurina.”  
  
Jurina smiled, her first smile that night.  
  
Rena picked her little sister up and carried her back into the bedroom, laying her on the bed before climbing in herself. The younger girl proceeded to hug Rena tight and snuggle up against her.  
  
“Night, Rena-chan.”  
  
“Good night, Jurina.”  
  
As Rena fell slowly into slumber, she thought she faintly heard the soft murmuring of her sister.  
  
“And thank you for everything.”  
  
\-------  
  
As the storm raged outside, Mariko made it back to the home of the Matsui sisters. She took her coat off and went upstairs to check on them. She slowly approached the door and opened it slightly.  
  
She saw Jurina and Rena sleeping together in bed, the puppy girl nuzzled up against her older sister as she wrapped her arms around her. Both of them looked so peaceful in each other’s embrace. Mariko smiled at the heartwarming sight.  
  
She quietly closed the door behind her and left.  
  
“Those two sure are cute together,” Mariko said with a grin.  
  
 _End of Flashback_  
  
“So, I guess things have gone pretty well for you two since then?”  
  
“Yeah. But, Rena-chan was a bit upset yesterday.”  
  
“Oh, about that Black you told me about?” Mariko looked up at Rena. “Is she strong?”  
  
“You wouldn’t believe… I was lucky to come back alive; she was a monster.”  
  
“I’m glad you’re back from Fukuoka, Mariko-sama,” Jurina smiled. “Now you can help us!”  
  
“Sorry, Jurina. I retired from vampire hunting, remember?”  
  
“I know, but still~”  
  
Rena grinned. “She’s right. Even though you aren’t working as the leader anymore, maybe you can do something to help us track her.”  
  
“But-”  
  
“Please~~~?” Both girls put on their puppy faces, they knew Mariko could never resist.  
  
She smiled and said, “Oh, okay then.”  
  
“Yaaaay~” Jurina hugged Mariko again.  
  
“What do I need to do?”  
  
“Just let us know about any activity that arises, especially if it involves Black.”  
  
“You’ll be like a spy!” Jurina said.  
  
“A spy, huh? Sounds fun.” Mariko grinned. “I’ll definitely keep you two updated.”  
  
“Thanks, Mariko.”  
  
“Well then, I have some business to attend to elsewhere, so I’ll be off.”  
  
“Eh~? More work?” Jurina pouted.  
  
Mariko chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be home and make you guys a delicious feast!”  
  
“Yay!”  
  
“Thank you, Mariko. See you later then.”  
  
With that, Mariko left the two girls. Rena and Jurina started walking back to the training hall, when they were approached by Takamina.  
  
“Ah, Rena! Me and Sayaka were wondering if you could do some one-on-one training with Yukirin?”  
  
“Yukirin?” Rena furrowed her eyebrows. In her mind, she angrily growled,  _“They gave her a nickname?!”  
_  
“Yeah. Yukirin’s still a bit new and not that athletic, so I thought maybe our ACE could show her a few moves.”  
  
Just then, a wicked thought entered Rena’s mind. With Yuki pretending to be human, she can’t use her super speed or vampire powers. She’s making herself look unathletic and weak.  
  
And that meant one thing to the little Devil sat upon Rena’s conscience:  **Revenge.**  
  
“I’ll do it,” Rena said with a grin.  
  
“Great!” Takamina smiled, not knowing of Rena’s wicked scheme.  
  
\-------  
  
Yuki was already on the training grounds when Rena arrived. Rena cracked her knuckles and also cracked her neck before heading to the girl.  
  
“Ah, Matsui-san. Are you here for combat training?”  
  
“Yes, Kashiwagi. Er, should I call you Yukirin?”  
  
“Anything’s fine really,” she said innocently, since they were in front of a few other hunters. “So, when do we get started?”  
  
“Now,” Rena grinned before she swung her leg and nearly kicked Yuki.  
  
That was when the vampire knew what was going on. She knew she was going to have to put up a fight, but she couldn’t risk exposing herself.  
  
“Well… this should be interesting,” she said to herself.  
  
 _“Payback time~”_  Rena said in her mind as she charged to the girl.  
  
She threw several punches, each one harder than the next. Yuki tried her best to dodge and block her attacks, but she was still getting hit. Rena kicked her again and then caught her off guard as she grabbed her from behind and had her in a headlock.  
  
“You’re, ngh, enjoying this,” Yuki said lowly before grabbing Rena and trying to flip her over, only causing them both to fall. Rena was now on top, pinning Yuki to the ground.  
  
“You know I am,” Rena chuckled. “You really should’ve seen this coming.”  
  
She then threw a punch at the girl’s face. She was about to punch again, but Yuki blocked it, trying to force it back.  
  
“I know you’re only using a small amount of your strength.”  
  
“Ergh, what about you?” Yuki asked as she struggled. “I feel like you’re holding back, ack, as well.”  
  
“If I went all out, you’d be dead.”  
  
Rena’s fist pounded Yuki’s cheek. The vampire then felt the side of her mouth, which was bruised.  
  
“Let’s end this quick,” Rena said as she was about to land one last punch, but in a panic, Yuki’s reflexes kicked in.  
  
She flipped Rena over, making her hit the ground, and Yuki’s hand wrapped around the girl’s pale white neck. Rena’s eyes were wide in shock, so were Yuki’s.  
  
“Alright, I think that’s enough, you two,” Sayaka then said. “Take five.”  
  
Sayaka helped Yuki up as Rena stood up and walked over to the bench. She gulped down her water and grabbed a towel. Yuki simply excused herself from the room and went into the infirmary. She ran into someone as they walked out and saw a very tall nurse.  
  
“Ah, you must be Yuki,” the nurse smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. My name’s Haruna.”  
  
“Haruna-san, nice to meet you. Is Sae in there?”  
  
“Oh yes, she’s about to leave. I’ll leave you two to talk.”  
  
“Thanks.” Yuki stepped in as the nurse walked out and she saw Sae.  
  
“Yuki-chan,” Sae smiled and got up to hug the girl. “Hi.”  
  
Yuki was a bit surprised by the hug, but quickly responded, “Sae-san, are you feeling better?”  
  
Sae broke the hug and smiled shyly. “Yeah. I don’t know what got into me. I must’ve been really out of it last night.”  
  
“So you don’t remember anything from last night?”  
  
“No,” Sae grinned sheepishly. “This morning’s a little fuzzy, too…”  
  
The boyish girl went silent as Yuki suddenly got closer, her lips touching her ear. She felt her spine shiver as she could feel the girl’s breath at her nape. She heard a soft whisper…  
  
“ **Blue Rose.** ”  
  
At that instant, Sae’s expression became blank and her eyes once again were empty.  
  
“Welcome back,” the vampire cooed as she kissed Sae’s cheek. “I’m glad to see the trigger works. You can still be of use to me.”  
  
She grinned as she held Sae’s chin.  
  
“Which reminds me, that Matsui was being mean to me again and I used up some energy. If only I had someone to protect me. I can trust you with that task, right, Sae?”  
  
“Yes.. I’ll protect you.”  
  
“That’s a good girl~ I love how you’re so obedient,” Black hugged her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to indulge myself again.”  
  
She kissed Sae’s neck and bit her, drinking her sweet blood. She immediately felt stronger and licked her lips satisfyingly. She then healed the mark and kissed Sae once again.  
  
“Thank you, my blue rose.”  
  
Black snapped her fingers and Sae woke up from the trance. The moment Sae blinked, Yuki stepped back, still facing the tall girl as she rubbed her eyes.  
  
“Uh, what was I saying?” Sae chuckled. “Well, maybe it’ll come to me. I hope it does soon.”  
  
“Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you could do some private training with me later. I sparred with Rena-san earlier and she beat me,” Yuki pouted.  
  
“Ah, Rena can be a bit tough, huh? Hehe, alright. I’ll train with you later.”  
  
“Thanks. You’re the best.” She kissed the short haired girl’s cheek shortly and left. “Bye.”  
  
Sae unconsciously blushed as she held her cheek.  _“What was that..?”_  
  
\---------------------------  
  
Later on that day, as things were finally wrapping up, Rena was exhausted. She chugged down a bottle of vitamin water and sighed as she sat down. She had also been watching and saw Yuki was training by herself. She sneered and took another sip from her bottle.  
  
“Rena, everything okay?” Takamina came up to her.  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine…”  
  
“You look tired.”  
  
“I’ll be alright,” Rena reassured her captain. She looked back at Yuki. “Say… why did you take Yuki in?”  
  
“Eh?”  
  
“Just curious.”  
  
“Is this because of the spar you two had? I saw it, Yuki was holding back. She’s obviously got some special strength in her.”  
  
 _“You have no idea,”_  Rena groaned in the back of her mind.  
  
“Come on, let’s go home for tonight.”  
  
“Alright,” Rena stretched and got up. “I’ll find Jurina.”  
  
As she left, Sae came in and saw Yuki training by herself.  
  
“Yukirin,” she smiled. “Ready to start our one-on-one?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
Around this same time, Jurina was just beginning to leave and was looking for Rena. She heard some sounds coming from the training hall and went to look. She saw Sae and Yuki were sparring together.  
  
She was about to leave, when she saw Yuki suddenly fell over and land on top of Sae. They stared at each other for a long time until Yuki did something completely unexpected. Jurina saw Yuki leaned down and kiss Sae’s lips deeply. She blushed heavily and quickly looked away before leaving in a rush.  
  
But Jurina didn’t see that Yuki was in her vampire mode. Her throat was dry and thirsty for blood, her fangs growing sharp. She leaned down and was about to bite Sae when…  
  
“Sayaka…”  
  
Her eyes widened at the sound of the hunter’s voice. She was shocked when she heard the name.  
  
“N-no… I can’t do this… Sayaka.. is my… my girlfriend...”  
  
“Girlfriend?”  
  
The vampire got up, looking down at Sae. There was a pain in her heart she had never felt before. She wanted to bite Sae, she needed blood… but….  
  
 _“Girlfriend…”_  
  
“..I can’t do this,” Yuki snapped her fingers and fell to her knees.  
  
When Sae was out of the trance, she saw Yuki sitting on the ground.  
  
“Yukirin, you okay?” The short-haired girl helped her up. “Sorry, I guess we both went in a little too hot.”  
  
As Sae chuckled, Yuki couldn’t bare to look at Sae. She thought back to what had happened and with that word still echoing in her ears, there was a pain in the deepest part of her.  
  
“Shall we continue?”  
  
Yuki shook her head. “Sorry… I feel tired. I’m going home now…” she said before quickly grabbing her bag and leaving, running out of the room.  
  
She held her chest as she ran, still feeling the pain.  
  
 _“Why…? Why does it hurt?”_


	6. Chapter 6

The next day came and Rena noticed that something was particularly odd about Yuki. She had been silent the whole day, not talking to anyone. She had a look in her eyes that you couldn’t tell what she was thinking.  
  
“Wonder what’s wrong with Yukirin?” Jurina said as she looked at the girl. “Nee, Rena-chan, should one of us go talk to her?”  
  
Rena looked at the girl with her back turned towards them.  
  
“Uh. I don’t think we should… She doesn’t look like she wants to be bothered right now…”  
  
“Oh, come on, Rena-chan~ If you’re feeling down, you would want someone to talk to, right?”  
  
“No…” Rena grumbled to herself.  
  
“Please go talk to her?” Jurina turned on her puppy mode, and was looking at Rena with slowly blinking eyes.  
  
Rena huffed. “Why don’t you go and talk to her yourself then?”  
  
“Because~” Jurina had an evil glint in her eyes. “Acchan just called. She said that she made a new weapon for me, and wants me to try it out~” She held up her cellphone.  
  
Rena pouted.  
  
“Mou, Rena-chan~ Don’t give me that face~ I promise to let you try it out later~” With that, Jurina left Rena alone.  
  
She sighed and got up, walking to the vampire.  
  
“Um… Y-Yuki?”  
  
Yuki didn’t look up.  
  
“Yuki?”  
  
The vampire still ignored her. Rena sighed.  
  
“I know you can hear me.”  
  
 _“Leave me alone,”_  she heard her voice in her head through Black’s telepathy. The vampire then got up and walked away from her.  
  
Rena looked at Yuki’s retreating back, a dozen emotions running through her mind. Her hand moved seemingly on its own and grabbed Yuki’s wrist, pulling her back to face the hunter.  
  
“Don’t ignore me,” she said firmly.  
  
There was a moment of silence between the two before Yuki released her hand from Rena’s grip.  
  
“What? It’s not that you wanted to talk to me anyway. I’m just an  _evil vampire_ , after all.”  
  
“Trust me, I didn’t.”  
  
“Then leave me alone, and don’t you dare touch me like that again,” Yuki said coldly before leaving.  
  
A whistle was then heard as Yuko happened to be leaning against the wall, watching.  
  
“Y-Yuko?! D-did you..?”  
  
“What was that about? Yuki seems pissed.”  
  
 _“Ah… she didn’t hear. Thank God.”_  
  
Yuko walked towards the girl. “Did something happen between you two?”  
  
“No… something just seemed to be bugging her. But she wants to be alone, so I wouldn’t talk to her for a bit.”  
  
“Alright then. Oh, also, Sae mentioned Yuki was acting kinda strange when they were together yesterday.”  
  
“Eh? What do you mean?”  
  
“Like… she kissed her cheek.”  
  
“Maji?!” Rena’s eyes widened.  
  
Yuko giggled. “Maybe Yukirin has a thing for her~”  
  
“What?! N-no, that couldn’t be… Sae’s dating Sayaka,” Rena said aloud, but in her head, she screamed,  _“She’s also a cold bloodthirsty monster. There’s NO way she’d fall in love with a human!”_  
  
“It’s probably just a crush. It’s cute, though,” Yuko said. “And besides, it won’t do any harm. Knowing Yukirin, she probably has a boyfriend already.”  
  
 _“Hell with that…”_  
  
“Ah. Or~” The short girl then gave a sly grin as she looked at Rena. “Rena~ Do you like her~?”  
  
Rena’s eyes widened. “Haa?!”  
  
“C’mon, tell me~ What d’ya think of her~?”  
  
“Wha-? I..! I…”  
  
She suddenly felt her own chest pounding. She thought back to what had just happened; she had no idea why she grabbed her wrist like that. It wasn’t even at her own will; it felt like some other force made her.  
  
“I…”  
  
Just then, Yuko burst out in laughter.  
  
“Relax, Rena. I was just kidding. Hahaha!”  
  
“Eh?!” Yuko laughed more as Rena blushed heavily. “How mean!”  
  
“Ah, come on~ I’m sorry, kay?”  
  
The taller hunter pouted slightly. “Don’t tease me like that ever again…”  
  
Yuko patted Rena on the back. “Go find your sister. I’m sure she’s waiting for you.”  
  
“Okay.” Rena started to walk off, then she said, “Oh, and, you better be careful Haruna doesn’t hear you say stuff like that.”  
  
Yuko’s jaw dropped before she turned around and ran down the hall, yelling, “NYAN-NYAAAAN!!!”  
  
Rena simply turned and started walking to where the armory was. She saw Jurina with Acchan, and in Jurina’s hand was a dagger.  
  
She suddenly flashed back to the fight she had with Black and how she had lost her dagger in the process. She frowned.  
  
 _“That reminds me… I need to go back and find it sometime…”_  
  
“Ah, Rena!” Acchan smiled.  
  
“Rena-chan!”  
  
Rena came in and smiled at the two. “Hi, Acchan.”  
  
“Look, Rena-chan! I got a new dagger! Looks cool, right?”  
  
“Yeah. But please take care of it this time, alright? How many daggers have you broke already?”  
  
Jurina giggled sheepishly.  
  
“Oh, right. I was also working on something for Yukirin, but she hasn’t come in yet.”  
  
“She’s kinda.. in a mood today. I’d wait until tomorrow.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Jurina’s eyes then widened. “Ah… I just remembered.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well… I saw Yuki and Sae yesterday.. erm… and…”  
  
“And what?”  
  
“Th-they were.. kissing.”  
  
Rena’s jaw dropped and Acchan covered her mouth.  
  
“Ehhhh?! Seriously?!” Acchan giggled.  
  
“Un.”  
  
“Woah, wait,” Rena said, “Was it on the cheek or..?”  
  
“On the lips.”  
  
Rena blushed as Acchan continued laughing.  
  
“Oh my God…”  
  
“Wow! This is news!”  
  
“Jurina,” Rena then held her sister’s shoulder, “You should probably keep that to yourself.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Just then, Takamina came in. “Rena, Jurina, you guys got a mission!”   
  
“Another Daywalker?”  
  
“Yeah. You guys better hurry before it gets away!”  
  
“On it!” The two sisters ran out of the armory.   
  
Takamina was about to leave when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.  
  
“Mi~na~mi~” Acchan’s voice sang as she cuddled the short woman. “I missed you~”  
  
“A-Atsuko! I missed you, too. But I need to go back to my office. I have papers--”  
  
“No~ Don’t go until you kiss me~” Acchan puckered her lips and tried to kiss her. Takamina’s face grew red. “Please~”  
  
“Atsuko, what if someone sees us?”  
  
“Mou~ come on! Even Yuki kissed Sae, so lemme kiss you~”  
  
The shorter girl’s eyes widened. “EH?! Wait, what?! Yuki kissed Sae?”  
  
“Un.”  
  
“EEEEEEEH?!” Takamina’s face contorted in shock.  
  
“Why so shocked, Minami~?” Acchan said drowsily. “Surely you have seen them lock eyes before~?”  
  
“Th-that’s..! I mean, kiss? KISS?! What kind of relationship do they have?! Wait.. but Sae’s dating Sayaka…. OH MY GOOOOOD!!!”  
  
Acchan tapped her girlfriend’s shoulder and made her turn around. She kissed Takamina’s lips shortly and made the girl fall silent.  
  
“Better?”  
  
Takamina blushed scarlet. “...A-a-a.. a little…”   
  
“Mou~ Minami~” Acchan poked Takamina’s cheek, “Why is your face red~? Just like a tomato~~ My favorite food~~ Fufufu~~~”  
  
“D-don’t say that, it’s embarrassing~~~” Takamina said as she covered her cheeks.  
  
“Alright, alright. Go do your work.”  
  
Acchan kissed her cheek one last time before Takamina left the armory. She went to her office and started filing some papers when Sayaka walked in.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Ah, h-hey…”  
  
Sayaka snickered. “What’s the matter? Your face is so red.”  
  
“I-I just…”  
  
“Lemme guess, Acchan?”  
  
Takamina nodded silently.  
  
“It’s so cute how you two are. How Acchan is so cute and flirty kinda reminds me of Sae.”  
  
Takamina stiffened a bit. “Uhhh y-y-yeah… S-Sae can be very c-c-cute…”  
  
“I could never be like that, though. That cutesy character doesn’t suit me.”  
  
“Hahaha.. hehehe… yeah~...”  
  
Sayaka noticed how something seemed to be bothering the shorter woman.  
  
“Something wrong, Takamina?”  
  
“Uhhhhhhh…. n-n-no. I.. I-I-I-I’m good.”  
  
“You sure?”  
  
“E-e-e-eto…”  
  
“Come on now, spill it,” Sayaka slapped Takamina’s back a bit.  
  
When she did, Takamina blurted out, “SAE AND YUKI KISSED!!!”  
  
The office was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Literally. After what seemed like a long pause, Sayaka finally spoke.  
  
“...They did?”  
  
Takamina turned around and saw Sayaka had a rather gloomy expression on her face.  
  
“Sayaka… erm, I-I…”  
  
But before she could say anything, Sayaka walked out of the office.  
  
“Sayaka…”  
  
\----------------------------  
  
The rumor didn’t stop there. When Jurina and Rena got back an hour later, after their mission, Jurina was walking around when she happened to run into Yuko.  
  
“Ah, Jurina-chan. You and Rena got back?”  
  
“Yup. Rena’s back in the training hall.”  
  
As the two were walking, Yuko brought up, “Y’know, I saw Yuki and Rena talking earlier. It looked like Yuki had something going on. I wonder if something happened…”  
  
“I wonder if it was because…” But Jurina covered her mouth before she could say the rest.  
  
“Hm? What was that?”  
  
“O-oh, nothing. Nevermind.”  
  
Yuko grinned. “What? Tell me!”  
  
“It’s nothing! Really!!”  
  
“Oh…?” Yuko had on her poker face. “Then you leave me with no choice~”  
  
“What are you… Ah!!”  
  
The squirrel launched a series of tickle attacks on the puppy, who happened to be VERY ticklish.  
  
“Hahahaha! W-wait, hahahha! Yuko, sto-hahaha-op! Hahahaha!”  
  
“No~ Not until you tell me~” Yuko continued her attacks and even as Jurina squirmed and tried to get out, Yuko wouldn’t let her escape.  
  
“Ahhh hahahahha! Yu~ko~ hahahahahaha!!!”  
  
“Tell me~~~~~~~ Or I won’t stop~~~~~”  
  
“Kekekekeke!!!! Okay!! I’ll tell you!!! I’ll tell you, okay??? Aaaaaah!! Please stop!!!!! Haahahhaha!”  
  
Yuko then ceased her tickling with the puppy girl now on the ground, catching her breath.  
  
“So, tell me what happened.”  
  
“..haa… I-I saw.. haa… Yuki-san.. hee… and Sae.. k-kissing… haa…”  
  
Yuko’s eyes widened. “Really?”  
  
Jurina nodded.  
  
“You’d better not be lying~ Or else……” Yuko tried to tickle Jurina again, but the girl dodged it.  
  
“I’m telling the truth!! Oh~ Hi, Nyan-Nyan~ So you saw~?”  
  
Yuko looked back slowly and froze when she saw Haruna standing right behind them. Jurina got up and fixed her clothes, dusting them off.  
  
“I better go find Rena-chan~ Bye~” she said as she left the two.  
  
“Uhhh… hi, Nyan-nyan~”  
  
“Yuko-chan~” Haruna put her arm through the shorter girl’s. “I missed you~”  
  
“Uh… I-I missed you too, Nyan-Nyan.” Yuko stuttered, her face getting redder and redder. “Y-you didn’t happen to see--”  
  
“What’s wrong, Yuko-chan?” Kojiaharu asked innocently. “Are you having a fever~?”  
  
“N-no!!” Yuko chuckled nervously. “Nyan-nyan, y’know I love ya. No one else but you.”  
  
The tall woman nodded.  
  
“Nee, Yuko-chan. Didn’t I tell you not to stress yourself too much?” She said while pulling the squirrel towards the infirmary. “Come on~ I’ll make you feel much better.”  
  
Yuko blushed heavily as Haruna started dragging her to the infirmary. “Oh mama!”  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Jurina made it back to the training hall and saw Rena was by herself. She glanced around the room and saw that Sae, Yuki, and Sayaka were also present.  
  
 _“Uh-oh…”_  She gulped as she walked to her sister. “Rena-chan~”  
  
“Ah, Jurina. There you are. Come on, let’s start training.”  
  
“Hai~”  
  
Jurina and Rena started their usual one-on-one training. Rena would help Jurina with combat, showing her a few moves that would help her in future missions. The two might even spar a bit.  
  
As all this was going on, Jurina couldn’t help but look over at the three other hunters. Sae was going on the same as usual, but Yuki and Sayaka were unusually silent. Rena also happened to notice that Yuki still had a dark expression on her face.  
  
The two gave a look to each other and didn’t say anything until Rena decided to just continue training and think about it later.  
  
After 30 minutes, they decided to take a break and sat down on the bench.  
  
As Rena gulped down some of her water, Jurina kept looking at Yuki who was currently doing a number on the punching bag.  
  
“Is she still upset?”  
  
“Looks like it…”  
  
“You talked to her, right? Did she say anything?”  
  
“Not really…”  
  
Jurina looked at her sister and grinned. “Why not try again?”  
  
“What? No, Jurina, I--”  
  
“C’mon, it’s worth a shot~”  
  
“N-no! It’s obvious that she doesn’t want to talk!”  
  
“Mou~ Rena-chan. She won’t bite.”  
  
 _“Oh, you have no idea…”_  
  
Rena sighed and stood up. “Alright, fine.”  
  
“Ganbatte nee.”  
  
She walked over to Yuki who was still busy on the punching bag.  
  
“Oi… Bla-” Rena paused as she remembered how there were other hunters present. In a low voice, she said, “Can we talk?”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I-it’s just because…” She stopped a bit and shook her head.  _“Please! Stop stuttering!! What’s wrong with me?”_    
  
“Because why?” Yuki gave her a cold look.  
  
“You seem a bit… down today?”  
  
“It’s none of your business.”  
  
“Is it because of Sae?” Rena then said.  
  
The vampire’s eyes widened as she looked at Rena.  
  
“Jurina told me… she saw you.”  
  
Yuki’s fists gripped tighter and she grabbed Rena’s collar.  
  
“Why do you even care about any of this?”  
  
Rena fell silent.  
  
“I don’t know…”   
  
But Rena wasn’t telling the truth. Ever since her former confrontation with Yuki, when Yuki revealed a bit of her broken side to her, she developed some feelings for the vampire. She didn’t know if it was sympathy, or something else, she just knew that something was… there.  
  
Yuki sighed, and let go of Rena’s collar. “Then stay out of other people’s business, especially mine.” Giving Rena one last glare, Yuki left.  
  
But then, Yuko came in and...  
  
“Miyazawa Sae, you playboy!!!”  
  
“Eh?!” Sae was a bit shocked, while Yuki stopped in her tracks and Sayaka silently looked her way.  
  
Yuko walked up to her tall friend.  
  
“Why did you kiss Yuki?!”  
  
“Eh? What are you talking about?! I didn’t kiss her!”  
  
“Oh come on! Jurina said she saw you kiss her!” Yuko pointed at the little puppy girl.  
  
“Yuko, whatever she said, it must’ve not been true. I really did NOT kiss Yukirin!”  
  
“You swear?”  
  
“I swear!”  
  
Yuko turned back to Yuki, who still had her back turned.  
  
“Yuki… is she telling the truth?”  
  
“...Yes. She and I didn’t kiss.”  
  
Yuko then looked at Jurina. “Jurina… are you sure maybe what you saw was really them kissing? Or were you wrong?”  
  
“Well… maybe they could’ve just fell. From where I stood, I couldn’t actually see their faces.”  
  
“Then it’s settled,” Yuko said. “It was all just a big misunderstanding. Sayaka!”  
  
“Hm?” Sayaka looked over at the short girl.  
  
“Don’t just stand there, come give your girlfriend a hug!”  
  
“Uh, I--”  
  
“Sayaka~~~” Sae ran up to her girlfriend and hugged her. “I promise, you’re the only one in my heart!”  
  
“Baka, of course I know that.”  
  
Yuki saw the two kiss shortly and smile at each other. It created a pain in her heart and she left the training hall.  
  
Jurina decided to follow her, her curiosity peaking. She told Rena she would be right back and started down the hall.  
  
Yuki was walking by herself, trying to forget what had happened, but the scenes played over and over in her head. She wanted to get rid of the pain in her heart and forget everything.  
  
 _“Why is it always like this…?”_  
  
She wasn’t looking where she was going and ran into someone.  
  
“Ah, Yuki-san,” she saw it was Mayu. The girl rarely ever left her station, but she was just going to download some files into her flash drive.   
  
“Sorry. I guess I was a bit distracted,” Yuki said.  
  
“It’s fine. I just finished.”  
  
“Oh, is that so…?” But Yuki’s words were cut off as she suddenly felt dizzy and nearly collapsed, holding onto Mayu.  
  
“Yuki-san?! Are you okay?”  
  
“I-I’m fine.” Yuki then grabbed Mayu’s shoulders, and looked into her eyes. “Relax.. Fall into trance.”  
  
As soon as Mayu’s eyes became hazy, the vampire bit into her neck and started drinking her blood.  
  
After a while, she parted and kissed the wound, healing it. She saw the sleeping Mayu in her arms. She had thought back to that moment when she first put her under.  
  
 _“Jurina… the truth is.. I like…”_  
  
Again, she felt a pain in her heart, remembering those words.  
  
“Why…?”  
  
What she didn’t know, is that someone was there the whole time.  
  
Matsui Jurina stood at her hiding place, her face etched with shock. But then, it turned into anger.  
  
“Kashiwagi… so she is one of them,” she said lowly as she turned the other direction. “That vampire… First, she hurts my sister, and now Mayu… Unforgivable. I’ll  **destroy** that vampire.”


	7. Chapter 7

That night, as things were finishing up, Yuki was walking out of the building when she saw Jurina.  
  
“Ah, Yuki-san,” Jurina smiled.  
  
“What’re you doing? Where’s Rena?”  
  
“Oh, she’s working the night shift with Takamina and Sayaka. Takamina told me to go on, but I wanted to talk to you on the way home. Can we walk?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
The two started walking, and Yuki didn’t notice that the young hunter had her dagger strapped on her waist, which was hidden under her long sweater.  
  
“It’s starting to get cold, huh? It’s already fall,” Jurina said as she rubbed her hands. “Are you not cold, Yuki-san?”  
  
“No. I don’t really mind it.”  
  
“That’s amazing. I hope I can be like that.”  
  
The two ended up taking a corner in a dark alley where it was just the two of them. Their only light was the moon.  
  
“Oh yeah, I’m sorry for the confusion today. I really thought I saw you and Sae kissing.”  
  
Yuki tensed up a bit, but tried not to show it. “Don’t worry about it…”  
  
“Hmm, also… I just want to clear this up, but I saw you hugging Mayu.”  
  
At that Yuki stopped, and so did Jurina.  
  
“What were you two talking about?”  
  
“...Jurina.. you should.. just forget all this happened.”  
  
“Eh?”  
  
“Forget… forget it all ever happened,” Yuki looked at Jurina and started walking towards her, making Jurina step back. She felt her back touch the wall and her hand went for the dagger under her coat.  
  
“Y-Yuki.. san?”  
  
Yuki stared into Jurina’s eyes and pulled her under. “Forget… Sleep and forget everything…”  
  
“For..get…” Jurina’s eyes became drowsy as she looked at Yuki’s black orbs. Her eyelids gently shut and her head dropped, her body going limp.  
  
Yuki felt her hunger was growing and her fangs becoming sharp. She covered her mouth.  
  
 _“No… I can’t!”_  she screamed in her head.  _“I can’t do that… not to her… If I did such a thing…”_  
  
Just then, Yuki felt something cold touch her skin. She looked and saw Jurina holding a silver dagger, the tip of the blade at her neck.  
  
“So Rena was right… you are a vampire, Kashiwagi Yuki,” Jurina said in a different tone than usual. A more serious, almost dark tone.  
  
The younger girl looked up at the vampire with eyes filled with hatred.  
  
“You’re just like your sister. Your memory can’t be erased. Interesting,” Black remarked, then asked, “How long have you known?”  
  
“Long enough. I knew something was fishy ever since you came. And after what happened to Rena, I had to make sure my hunch was correct.”  
  
“Oh is that so? Looks like you really are just like her. I wonder if you can beat me, unlike her… All that’s considered, I doubt it.”  
  
Jurina gave an angered expression. “You’re gonna pay for this! Vampire!”  
  
As the blade was about to pierce Yuki’s neck, the two girls heard a voice.  
  
“Jurina, is that you?”  
  
When Jurina saw the shadow and heard her sister’s voice, she immediately went back to how she was before.  
  
“Rena-chan~!” The younger quickly returned the dagger to its hiding place, speaking in her more child-like tone. “Takamina-san let you leave early?”  
  
“Yeah. She said that you left alone, I was worried.” Rena then looked at Yuki. “But seems like you have company.”  
  
“Uh huh~” Jurina nodded, a bright smile on her face. “I happened to run into Yuki-chan on my way, and she said to walk me home~ Right, Yuki-chan~?”  
  
“Is that so…?” Rena had an eyebrow raised.   
  
“Un! So, don’t worry.”  
  
She then turned to the girl who was silent the whole time.   
  
“Thank you for accompanying Jurina, Kashiwagi-san. How about you go home? It’s dangerous to be out here alone at this hour.”  
  
“I’ll do that.”  
  
As Jurina and Rena started to leave, Jurina clinging to Rena’s arm like a puppy, Yuki watched and saw Jurina looked back her way and gave her a dark glare.  
  
“This isn’t over,” she mouthed before turning her head back and leaning it against Rena’s shoulder.  
  
Yuki turned around and walked in the shadows, and in a mere seconds, appeared in her mansion. When she stepped inside, she sat against one of the couches and sighed, remembering what had just happened.  
  
“So, Jurina knows as well… this will be rather difficult. I can’t keep relying on my hypnosis…”  
  
She then touched her lips and remembered when she felt a sudden urge to bite Jurina and drink her blood.  
  
“Why was I about to do that..?” she said, feeling a tinge of regret. “I can’t let my hunger grow out of control…”  
  
“Something the matter, dear Black?” a voice echoed.  
  
Black saw the shadow of a certain vampire standing at the top of her stairs. The vampire had white hair and sharp eyes with glowing red irises.  
  
“Clyde-sama…”  
  
“What was that, I heard just now? Were you resisting your thirst?” Clyde stepped down the stairs, slowly approaching Black. “Why these sudden thoughts? Are you feeling regret?”  
  
“I…”  
  
“Is this about the same girls you’ve been watching over for years now?” He suddenly appeared behind her, whispering in her ear with a cold breath. “How long has it been now?”  
  
“..15 years.”  
  
“15 years, huh? It’s been so long~.”  
  
“Why do you care?” Black asked coldly.  
  
“The real question is… why do you care so much for these girls?”  
  
Black was silent and flashbacked back to a certain moment, 15 years ago…  
  
 _Flashback_  
  
It was one snowy Christmas day. A perfect white Christmas in Tokyo as a blanket of snow covered the city.  
  
More than anything, more than the darkest nights or fullest moons, Black loved snow. On cold winters where soft snowflakes fell from the sky, she would find a secluded place, lie down, and just stare at the sky.  
  
She was always alone. Ever since the beginning, she was alone. And on nights like this, it was best for her. She would shut herself out, shut out the world. Nothing but the darkness to keep her company.  
  
 _“An eternity of loneliness…”_  She always thought that was her destiny; to be alone forever, in total darkness.  
  
Well… not total darkness. For during Christmas season, the world was lit up. And it seemed that Black was the only one who was alone in the world. Everyone had someone, the high school classmates going out for holiday shopping, lovey-dovey couples on snow-covered dates, and children happily enjoying the winter season with their families.  
  
Black often found herself surrounded by these sorts of people, but would do all in her power to shut herself away. In the shadows, where no one could see her.  
  
All this changed when she happened upon a certain household...  
  
“Nee-tan~” Black heard the voice of a young toddler calling out to her older sister. She happened to be walking around when she heard the voice and stopped at the window of none other than the Matsui sisters.  
  
At this time, Rena was nine years old and Jurina was only three, and the two were spending Christmas together while their parents were busy with work.   
  
They did not know at this time about their parents being vampire hunters, and had lived in blissful ignorance in an innocent world of peace and happiness. Even without their parents around all the time, the two were happy as long as they had each other.  
  
Black saw all that as she watched them, forgetting about the sad loneliness that plagued her.  
  
“Look, Juri-tan. Santa got you this,” Rena handed her baby sister a stuffed teddy bear, the younger sister smiling.  
  
Seeing such innocence created a warmth in Black’s heart. A warmth she had never felt before.  
  
She watched them the whole night, how the two would play together, watch the snow, and eventually fell asleep.  
  
Their parents finally arrived home and saw the two sisters on the couch, fast asleep in their dreamland. They took the two sisters to their room and tucked them in bed for warmth. Even as all the house remained silent, Black continued to watch the two’s slumber.  
  
She cracked open the window and silently slipped through, stepping into the bedroom. She slowly approached the two beds where the sisters laid.  
  
The vampire walked up to Jurina and saw the toddler holding her teddy bear close, wrapped in her small pink blanket with a letter “J” sewn in it.  
  
Black saw her hand unconsciously reaching out to the baby, but she pulled it back. She was a creature of darkness, a monster. She could not touch something as pure as a young child with her tainted hands.  
  
She then heard a small sound and quickly turned her head to see a young Rena was waking up. She sat up in the bed and slowly opened her eyes, looking at Black.  
  
Rena was about to say something when Black placed her finger in front of her lips, telling Rena to be quiet.  
  
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you,” she said.  
  
The child asked, “Who are you?”  
  
“I can’t say. It’s a secret.”  
  
“Are you an angel? Did Santa send you, are you one of his snow angels?”  
  
Black was a bit amused by how excited the girl looked, her lips curved a soft smile.  
  
“If you believe so… then yes, you could say that,” the vampire said, not wanting to reveal her true nature.  
  
She was then surprised when Rena’s tiny hand reached out and touched her own. She wanted to pull away, but some force inside her prevented it.  
  
“Your hands are cold…” Rena grasped her small hands around Black’s cold fingers. “I wanna warm you up.”  
  
Black didn’t say anything and looked at the hands holding hers. They were so small, yet she felt incredible warmth from them. She felt that same warmth growing in her heart again, and she smiled, a genuine smile which she had never given for as long as she could remember.   
  
During the few minutes of peaceful silence, Black watched the young girl in front of her. Little Rena’s eyebrows were scrunched together, and she was looking at Black’s hands with utter concentration. Turning Black’s big hands in her little ones, she blew into them, trying to warm them up some more.  
  
“Thank you,” she then said, making Rena look up with sparkling eyes.  
  
Rena then hugged Black, giving her a bright smile.  
  
“I’m Rena… can we be friends?”  
  
With that, Black’s smile disappeared. She knew that she could never be with this human… she could not be friends. Even though there was some part of her that wanted to befriend the child, she knew all too well… it was an impossible wish.  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“Eh?” Rena looked up at Black with a sad expression.  
  
Black stared into her eyes and held her head, caressing her soft black hair.  
  
“You may not remember me… If you do, it will only be a dream,” she said before Rena’s eyes slowly shut and the child fell asleep.  
  
For some reason, Black wanted to stay longer, as long as possible. She wanted to treasure every second and not go back into her lonely world just yet.  
  
She continued to sit at Rena’s bedside and gently caressed the child’s head as the girl slept, humming a soft lullaby. Suddenly, touching her didn’t seem so bad. In fact, having Rena in her arms was the best feeling she had ever felt.  
  
She left not long afterwards, but not before planting a kiss on little Rena’s forehead.  
  
“Snow angel… so beautiful…” she heard the child say in her sleep as she pulled up the blanket.  
  
“If that’s how you want to remember me, then so be it,” she whispered to herself before stepping out of the bedroom and closing the window, keeping the cold out.  
  
For some unknown reason, ever since that night, Black has been keeping tabs on the two girls. She found herself more and more attracted to the two, watching them from afar.  
  
Suddenly, even though she was never truly with Rena, her world didn’t seem so lonely anymore.  
  
 _End of Flashback_  
  
“So, tell me, Black,” Clyde spoke. “Why are you so interested in this girl? Don’t tell me… you’ve fallen for her?”  
  
Black’s eyes widened. “Huh? You’re joking, right?”  
  
“No… I’m serious. And you know that loving a human is--”  
  
“Is forbidden, I know. And I’m not in love with her.”  
  
“Just know I’m watching you,” Clyde said before he disappeared, leaving Black alone.  
  
She sat back down on the couch and let out a heavy sigh. The last few days had tired her out, and this was something she rarely ever felt. She closed her eyes and wanted to shut herself away somewhere where nothing could reach, only darkness.  
  
As she was thinking, her mind slowly drifted into slumber, another rare occurrence.  
  
When Black did sleep, which was rarely at all, she often never had dreams. But when she did dream, they would have no color. They were dull, empty dreams. But tonight seemed different.  
  
In her dream, she saw little Rena playing in the snow. Little Rena was lying down, her arms and legs brushing against the snow as she giggled. She was making a snow angel. When she was done, she stood up and brushed herself off. She bounced over to Black, who was watching her with, unbeknownst to herself, a smile on her face.  
  
“Look! I made a snow angel!!” Little Rena said happily.  
  
Black crouched down so she was in level with the little girl. “It looks very pretty.”  
  
Little Rena shook her head.   
  
“I think you’re prettier.”  
  
Black suddenly felt her heart give a painful throb.  
  
“I’m not pretty! I am a monster!! I shouldn’t even be talking to you in the first place!!!” Black shrank back from the little girl and curled herself into a ball, hugging herself.  
  
“You are not a monster. I think you are the nicest person I have ever met.”  
  
She then felt warmth as the little girl suddenly hugged her tight.  
  
As the girl pulled away, Black was surprised to see not the nine year old girl staring back at her, but the twenty-four year old Rena.  
  
“Rena..?!”  
  
Rena gave her a warm smile and stood up. She danced and twirled as the snowflakes floated around her.  
  
Black then saw the girl look at her and reach her hand out to her.  
  
“Come on, dance with me, snow angel.”  
  
“What? I-I can’t…”  
  
Rena simply giggled and took Black’s hand, grasping it warmly. She pulled the vampire up to her feet and brought her closer.  
  
“I’m.. not a dancer.”  
  
“That doesn’t mean you can’t learn,” Rena said innocently as she took Black’s other hand.  
  
She started humming a melody as she and Black stepped together on the snow-covered ground. She spun herself around and twirled Black with her hand.  
  
Then, Black made a clumsy trip and ended up falling, pulling Rena down with her. The two laid on the cold ground and looked at each other. Rena giggled like a child, and Black found herself laughing, as well.  
  
Rena sat herself up and looked at the vampire.  
  
“Yuki… what do you think of me?”  
  
“Eh…?”  
  
“Do you love me?”  
  
Black felt her cheeks grow hot. “What..?! I…”  
  
“Tell me the truth. Do you really love me?”  
  
She shook her head and tried to erase those thoughts from her head.  
  
“No… this isn’t real. This is a dream! She’s not actually saying that!”  
  
“Yuki, answer me!”  
  
The vampire shut her eyes tight. “I…”  
  
However, when she opened them back up, she saw the snowy world had disappeared and she was back in her mansion, sitting on the couch.  
  
She sighed heavily and felt her cheeks were still warm even after waking up.  
  
“Why did I have that dream…?”  
  
She then looked at the clock and saw that she had been asleep for much longer than expected and she was now THREE HOURS late.  
  
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding!”  
  
Black immediately left and used her super speed to get her to the agency. She quickly headed in and saw Takamina.  
  
“Takamina-san!” Yuki bowed to the shorter girl. “I’m so sorry for being late! I overslept because I was up late and--”  
  
“Hey, hey, don’t worry, Yukirin. I understand.”  
  
Yuki heaved a heavy sigh.  
  
“You okay? You look a little pale,” Takamina said with concern.  
  
“I’m fine, really…”  
  
“OK, well, just to let you know ahead of time, Rena and Jurina aren’t here. Today’s their day off.”  
  
Yuki blinked for a second. “....Hai?”  
  
“Don’t worry. Sayaka will train with you.”  
  
“Ah… alright.”  
  
So the day went on as normal. With Rena not there, Yuki thought she was going to have a clear conscience all day, but this wasn’t true.  
  
On the contrary, she was thinking intensely about Rena, not being able to forget the dream she had. Her mind was distracted, and on top of that, she felt weaker than she had compared to before.  
  
Sayaka suggested she took a break. Yuki went into the girls restroom and stepped into one of the stalls. Out from her pocket, she took out a vial of pig’s blood. Not the most satisfying, but it would at least keep her energized until she drinks human blood. She gulped down the pig’s blood and sighed, hiding the vial back and leaving the restroom.  
  
“Yuki!” The vampire saw a certain computer techie Mayu walking down the hall in her direction.  
  
“Mayu? What are you doing out?”  
  
“Um, can I talk to you about something?”  
  
“Eh? What about?”  
  
“It’s, er… eto… It’s about.. Jurina.”  
  
Yuki’s eyes widened. “Jurina?”  
  
“Y-yes.” The younger girl was shifting from foot to foot, and she was blushing.  
  
Yuki was puzzled by the girl’s demeanor. “What about her?”  
  
“You see…” Mayu was fidgeting, her face getting redder every second. “I think I-I…”   
  
“Eh?”  
  
Mayu squeezed her eyes shut. “I think I’m in love with her!”  
  
Yuki felt a strong pulse in her chest. She stood there frozen, looking at Mayu as the girl covered her blushed face.  
  
“In love..?”  
  
“Y-yes… I’m really not sure of it, yet, but… whenever I see Jurina, my heart starts to race and I get butterflies in my stomach when I try to talk to her. And there are some days where I just can’t get the thought of her out of my mind…”  
  
“That’s why you think it might be love.”  
  
Mayu nodded.  
  
“Yukirin is very nice, pretty, and has a great personality. I thought maybe you’ve had a boyfriend before, so… could you give me some advice?”  
  
“Eh? A-advice? Me? Really?”  
  
Mayu nodded.  
  
“Well… hmm, I don’t know Jurina that well, but.. she seems like a very nice and cheerful girl,” Yuki said with a smile, the memory of Jurina’s dark glare of hatred not leaving her mind, she thought a bit. “I don’t think you need to do anything special. Just be honest.”  
  
“E-eh? But… I’m not good at confessing. And when I’m around Jurina… I can’t even talk properly.”  
  
“I dunno. I think it’s cute when you get shy,” Yuki said teasingly.  
  
“Ehh~?!” Mayu blushed even more, covering her face.  
  
Yuki couldn’t help but giggle. “Sorry. Really.”  
  
“Mou~ Yuki, please be serious!”  
  
“I am. I think if you just honestly express your feelings, Jurina will accept you.”  
  
“Honto?”  
  
“Un. Honto.”  
  
Mayu’s eyes sparkled and she smiled. “Thank you, Yuki!”  
  
The girl hugged Yuki around her neck and quickly ran down the hall, waving goodbye. Yuki waved as well, but then she felt dizzy again and her vision went blurry.  
  
She staggered and held herself up against the wall. She felt the monster inside her trying to let loose, trying to make her lose control. She covered her mouth and took deep breaths, trying to suppress the hunger.  
  
Takamina happened to see her and walked over worriedly.  
  
“Yukirin, you alright?”  
  
“I-I… I don’t feel well…” Yuki said while hiding her growing fangs.  
  
“Hey, if you feel sick, I’ll let you go home for today. Don’t force yourself, kay?”  
  
Yuki nodded. “Yeah…”  
  
“Alright. You take care.”  
  
The vampire left the agency building and walked out for some fresh air. She tried her best to walk in the shadows, the light of the sun made her feel even worse and gave her a headache. Without human blood, her body is getting weak.  
  
Her knees felt all wobbly and she took a seat on one of the nearest benches she could find.   
  
“Nee-chan!!”  
  
Yuki looked up to see two very familiar people come into view. Matsui Jurina was chasing her older sister Rena, who was holding an ice cream cone in her hand.  
  
“Nee-chan!!! Go buy yourself one, you bully!!!”  
  
“Haha! Sorry. Here,” Rena handed her sister the ice cream. “I’m gonna find us somewhere comfy to sit. Will you go buy mine?”  
  
“Mou~ you’re so lazy~”  
  
“Hey, just don’t eat my portion, kay?”  
  
“Ufufu, I know.” Jurina giggled as Rena handed her the money and went to go get the ice cream.  
  
Rena then turned and her eyes immediately landed on the vampire.  
  
“What a surprise, Kashiwagi,” she said, walking up to her. “Coming out here just puts you in danger, y’know?”  
  
“P-please, I’m not in the mood for fighting…”  
  
Rena’s eyebrows furrowed. She had never seen Black like this.  
  
“If this is about whatever happened with Sae, I don’t care about that. You’ve been acting strangely ever since then. I’m starting to think you’ve gotten soft, Black.”  
  
“And what if I have..?”  
  
“Haa?”  
  
“If I’m growing soft… does that make me weak? Do you think I’m not strong anymore because of everything that’s happened since I first met you?”  
  
“I don’t have anything to do with you! You brought this all upon yourself!”  
  
Yuki’s head sunk down. “I’m.. sorry.”  
  
Rena’s eyes widened.  
  
She could not believe what she just heard. Kashiwagi Yuki, Black, a VAMPIRE… just apologized to her?!  
  
“What are you talking about?”  
  
“It’s all my fault.” Yuki couldn’t look Rena in the eyes. “You are right. It’s all my fault because I’m a vampire.”   
  
She then shut her eyes tight.   
  
“I should’ve never been born.”  
  
Rena stood silent. She was in utter shock in what all Black was saying. She had never seen this broken, weak side to her, or any other vampire.  
  
And… it hurt her.  
  
Her hand suddenly slapped Yuki’s cheek.  
  
“Don’t you dare say that!”  
  
Yuki was frozen, staring at Rena with wide eyes. Even Rena herself was shocked, staring at her own hand.  
  
 _“Why did I just do that..?”_  
  
“What do you care about me anyway..? You hate me.. because I’m a monster!” Yuki screamed. “What the hell kind of difference does it make?!”  
  
“You…”  
  
“Nee-chan?” Rena looked behind her and saw Jurina walking back up to her, another ice cream cone in her hand. “What’s going on?”  
  
“Jurina…”  
  
“Are? Yuki. You’re out, too?”  
  
“Ah.. y-yes. I was feeling sick.”  
  
“Aw~ hope you feel better,” she said aloud, but Yuki heard Jurina say in her mind,  _“If you dared to try and lay a finger on Rena while I was gone, I’ll kill you right here, right now.”_  
  
“Let’s go home, Jurina,” Rena said.  
  
The two sisters left and now Yuki was alone once again. She stood in a crowd of people in the street, her heightened senses driving her wild.  
  
 _“Must.. drink… feed... need.. blood…”_  The voices in her head echoed as her hunger was taking over.  
  
She accidentally ran into someone and nearly collapsed until a man caught her.  
  
“Are you alright, miss?”  
  
Black couldn’t contain herself anymore and her eyes landed on the man’s neck.  
  
“M-miss..?” She locked her eyes on his, giving him a deathly glare. He immediately froze, losing his voice completely.  
  
She quickly regained her senses, seeing his feared expression as he ran off. She saw all the people around her, some of them staring. She panicked and ran away as fast as she could.  
  
 _“No, no, no, no, no!”_  
  
She kept running until she tripped and collapsed on the ground. She stared at the ground as she sat there, feeling an overwhelming pain in her chest.  
  
“Why… can’t I make it stop?”  
  



End file.
